


Murder Lives Forever & So Does War

by Noellalee



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, And Lots of It, Angst, Blackwatch mission, Blood, Bribery, Double Agents, Espionage, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, I promise I will make it happy eventually, Just Bear With Me, My poli sci degree is gonna be useful, Romance, Sexual Tension, Shit is about to get political, Slow Burn, So much angst, Talon - Freeform, They Finally Kiss, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2018-08-19 22:18:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8226526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noellalee/pseuds/Noellalee
Summary: You're the new head of Blackwatch's Eastern Europe division. You work directly under Commander Reyes and are responsible for creating and approving all his mission in the region. Things couldn't get any more complicated more quickly when you begin to harbour feelings for your boss. Especially when you have a secret worth killing for.





	1. Never Want More Than What You Wished For

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you for all the love and support on my one shots! It means so much to me and has encouraged me to actually write this story. 
> 
> The idea comes of from this tumblr post here by some very smart people.  
> http://natalya-romanova.tumblr.com/post/151023947570/overwatch-headcanon-time

The Overwatch headquarters in Switzerland was so much bigger than you imagined. Sure, you’ve seen pictures and videos but nothing could capture the pure liveliness of it all. People were constantly milling around and there was a general buzz of noise. From the spot you were currently standing at, you could see people in lab coats huddling around some papers, soldiers training, and even a few eating underneath a tree.

Jack Morrison, the commander of Overwatch was walking beside you while showing you around. You and Jack had worked together in the past during your time in Russia. Him and his team were there for a mission to protect a group of specialist from an attack. They happened to be staying in the area you were working in but everyone ended up trapped and pinned down by the enemy team. Because of your knowledge of the area and your skills in the field, you were able to help him achieve the mission without any casualties. He offered you a job right there but you weren’t finished your work helping the civilians stuck because of the Omnic Crisis. Fast forward a year later when the crisis was over and you were out of a job, Jack called you again. He offered you a rather prestigious position and you were more than happy to take it. Overwatch was being transformed into an international peace keeping organization and it would now have a sister organization called Blackwatch. Jack didn’t give you many details on how it was being run and the legality of it. All he said was with your education in global affairs and international law not to mention the time you spent in Russia and the surrounding areas you would be perfect. He needed someone he could trust to create the Eastern Europe black-ops missions. You suppose it doesn’t matter how legal they are as long as some good comes out of it and maybe the world will finally see some peace from the restraint of the United Nations has because of its permanent five members. 

“How was your flight in? Not too rough of a landing, I hope.” Morrison asked while looking down at you with a familiar smile. You can see why they picked him to be commander instead of Reyes. You had never actually meet the man but you’ve seen pictures and have heard a lot about him from Jack. Jack was handsome, charming and someone the people could easily put their trust into. While Reyes always had a scowl on his face in the pictures.

“It was good. Don’t worry about the landing. I’ve had worse landings in Belarus but I didn’t expect to land right here at headquarters.”

Your comment causes a low chuckle to emit from his throat. “I suppose I have too. We have an air space here in order to quickly deploy on missions and if needed, to get our soldier to the medical bay. There is a much larger air base that we use about 10 kilometers north.”

Jack continues to show you around as you pass by several members of different strike teams. Some have blue uniforms on with the typical Overwatch symbol while others had on black uniforms with a slightly different symbol than the typical Overwatch one. You assumed that must be Blackwatch’s.

You look forward for a moment to see a young man wearing a cowboy hat running towards you and Jack. He was waving hello but as he got closer you could see he was not only wearing a cowboy hat but the complete western attire. The man stopped in front you two and nodded his head at Jack. “Morrison,” he spoke before looking at you. The cowboy smiles at you and tips his hat. “Howdy. The name’s McCree, Jesse McCree.”

You smile back at Jesse and extend your hand out to shake his hello. “Nice to meet you.” 

Jack introduces you to Jesse. “McCree, this is y/n. She is the one who will be planning all of your Eastern Europe missions.”

“Good to know who to sweet talk into giving me the good ones,” the cowboy jokes while giving you a playful wink. His actions make you blush and you can physically feel your cheeks redden.

“McCree,” Jack’s voice a warning to the young man. “Don’t let Reyes hear you flirting or he’ll make sure she places your ass somewhere miserable for a month.” Jesse frowns at Jack’s comment and is about to protest but he gets cut off. “Have you seen Reyes recently? I need to speak to him about some mission reports.”

“I haven’t. I’m actually trying to avoid-”

The cowboy was cut off by a loud, deep voice behind you that sounded slightly angry. “McCree! I wanted to see your lazy ass an hour ago!” You look at Jesse wide eyed while you can see his face turn one shade paler. He mutters ‘busted’ under his breath and you can only assume the voice belongs to Reyes. You turn around slowly to confirm your suspicion and it is in fact Gabriel Reyes. The Commander of Blackwatch and your boss.

Oh boy. Was he ever a sight to see in person. He’s tall and probably a couple inches taller than Jack. His skin is dark while his hair and beard is black. The man’s eyes are intimidating to say the least but hold an aspect of mystery to them. You wonder what things they have seen. Also the muscles on him, oh boy they are everywhere and large.

You were startled out of staring at the large man in front of you when he spoke up again. “McCree, I said move your ass! You’ve just earned yourself another hour of training on top of the you’ve already missed for your tardiness.”

You weren’t exactly frightened by his demeanour but you were unsure of what to say after he yelled at poor Jesse. You look down at your feet but quickly look back up to stare at the three men in front of you.

Jack breaks the slightly awkward moment. “Y/N, this is Gabriel Reyes. The man you’ll be working for. Reyes, she’s the one I told you about. She’s the new head of your Eastern Europe division.”

You turn to look at Gabriel and you can see him eyeing you, deep in thought. He doesn’t say anything for a moment and just purses his lips. He was staring intensely into your eyes now and you’re unsure if he is purposely trying to intimidate you. “Hopefully you are as good in person as you are on paper. I hate to be disappointed.”

Well excuse you. What the hell what that supposed to mean? Clearly he wasn’t impressed by you and at this moment you’re not overly with him. You take a deep breath before speaking to make sure you tone is even. “I can assure you that I am Commander Reyes. I’m an excellent worker on and off the field. Commander Morrison can attest to this as he has seen my work.” You’re staring back at Gabriel, refusing to back down. No way you going to let him intimidate you. Especially not after what you had to go through to get here.

“You could have at least gotten me someone who looks like they can handle the pressure, Morrison. She looks like she’s barely eighteen.”

“I’m thirty!” You were starting to feel anger rise up in your chest but before you could say anything, someone’s cell phone rang and distracted you. Turns out it was Jack’s and you could hear him speaking but you weren’t paying much attention to what he was saying. Your focus was currently on the stare down you and Gabriel were having and trying to stay calm. You couldn’t blow it on your first day here and the people who had gotten you here would be pissed if you did.

Once again, Jack breaks the silence. “Gabe, that was Ana. She needs us in Building B.”

“Alright,” he replies and breaks eye contact with you.

“Sorry kiddo. I can’t finish showing you around but I’ll get McCree to do it.” Jack turns to face the cowboy now standing behind you. “Show her to her quarters and her office and anywhere she might like to go.”

Gabriel starts to chuckle. “Looks like it’s your lucky day McCree. Ana just saved your sorry ass. Again. Be sure to thank her tonight.”

Jesse taps you on the shoulder and looks down at you with an eager smile. “Are you coming tonight?”

“Uhh.” Is all you manage to say since you had no idea what was tonight.

“She is. I just haven’t had the chance to mention it yet. Drinks are tonight at 7. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team there. It will be good to learn about them more than what’s just in their files. It should help you in deciding who to send out.”

“Okay! Sounds good to me,” you reply while smiling up at Jack.

You bid goodbye to him and wave to Gabriel in order to be polite but he steps forward so your bodies are almost touching. He leans down and you almost think he’s going to kiss you. You feel your stomach drop in anticipation and another blush cross your cheeks but he turns his head and whispers in your ear. “Good. You passed,” before he stands up, smiles and walks away with Jack to wherever Building B was.

That asshole! He was testing you the entire time to see if he could rile you up. It almost peeved you until you realised that it probably was a good thing to make sure you could handle the pressure and the judgment that is bound to come with the job. You can’t help but stare at the man as he walks away.

Jesse breaks your train of though. “Anyways darling, your quarters and office is this way.”


	2. Something In the Way You Move

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! University has gotten crazy and I wasn't exactly sure on how to proceed with this chapter. On the bright side, the next chapter is almost complete! 
> 
> Thanks for all the love as always! <3
> 
> Dedicate to Maerad & Alterion

The location of the pub where everyone was meeting wasn’t too far from where your quarters was located. It was in the basement of the building where the mess hall was and most social activities took place. A ten minute walk and you were inside, quickly descending the dark stairway to the pub. Entering a door that has The Vault written a crossed the top of, you now understand why it's called The Vault as there are more stairs to go down. Eventually you land at the final hallway and it is long and dark walked before actually entering the establishment.

You enter the area where the bar and tables are while standing there for a moment, looking around to see if you recognise anyone. Finally you spot Jack around the corner, sitting with a group of people. You notice that Jesse is beside him, as is Angela. You smile a big grin as you haven’t seen her in several years. Thinking about it for a moment, you believe that last time you saw her was when both of you were working in Georgia. The group notices you and Angela’s face lights up in excitement as she smiles back at you while Jack waves you over and Jesse gives you a playful wink.

Walking over to the group, Jack stands up and gives you a hug before speaking, “good to see you here kiddo.”

“Thank you for telling me I’m coming. It’s a good idea to meet everyone.”

“I’ll have to give the credit to Angela. She thought it would be easier to do your job if you had an idea of everyone on some sort of a personal level. Besides Reyes may be less of a hard ass on you if he has a couple drinks in his system,” Jack informs you while letting out a small chuckle near the end.

“Speaking of Reyes, I don’t see him at the moment.”

“He’ll be along later. He’s still taking care of the mess in Building B. McCree and some other guys accidentally blew up the basement of the building.” Jack turns his head so he’s looking directly at Jesse. “Isn’t that right McCree?” Looking between the two of them, you can sense the tension. Jack is raising his eyebrows at the young cowboy while Jesse has a sorry look on his face.

“I was just practicing my deadeye!” Jesse half yells but when he speaks again it’s much quieter. “But accidentally missed one target and hit a barrel that I shouldn’t have.”

“I don’t care that you missed. I care that you weren’t doing it in the practice range. Why would you do it in Building B of all places? You know there’s unstable material in there. Of course you hit a barrel of fuel and it leaks out into the electrical room. You’re lucky you’re not a fried cowboy at this point. Naturally, twenty minutes later Ana calls me because there’s been an explosion from your stupidity.”

“Holy shit. I’m surprised Gabriel isn’t making you have extra training or cleaning duty after the stories I’ve heard of him.”

“Oh he is. Trust me. You and your buddies are scrubbing toilets for a month McCree and you’re lucky it’s Reyes punishing you and not me. We needed the whole fire crew and I have to do a press release in the morning about a ‘training accident’.”

“I apologized!”

“You almost blew up Angela’s medical lab. Thank god for the blast proof and fire proof doors but you did manage to get her supply room slightly singed. You are one lucky man that she hasn’t killed you just to use you as a test dummy on her new resurrection process.”

“A resurrection process? That’s new! When did you start on that Angela? You've been taking your biomedic research farther than last time.”

“Several months now but it’s no where near ready to be used on people. I’m hoping to be able to use it in the middle of battle at some point so no one gets left behind.”

“Wow that’s amazing Angie. You’ve been super busy since I last saw you.”

“By the sounds of it so have you but we can catch up later. Let is introduce you to everyone you haven’t had the chance to meet yet.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Jack and Angela spend most of the evening introducing you to the majority of your team. Sitting in the large booth, there is Ana and Lena, Reinhart, plus Gabriel’s main Strike Team. Through conversation with the group, you find out that Ana is Jack’s second in command and that she has a young daughter named Pharah. Then there's Reinhart sitting beside her. You silently wonder if maybe there's something more between them but decide now is not the best time to stick your nose in their business. Despite Reinharts intimidating size, he is actually a huge teddy bear and is very protective of his team. You'll have to be careful around him. Lena used to be a pilot until she had an accident that gives her ability. The three in front of you didn’t work directly under Gabriel but Jack instead. Jack thought it would be nice to meet some of his team as well. Reyes’ Strike Team was a small group of four men, including Jesse and four women. They were all elite trained soldiers from different parts of the world. McCree was about the only one who didn’t look like he belongs in a secret organization. The rest of them were almost as intimidating looking as Gabriel Reyes was. If it wasn’t for the few beers in their system, it looked like they could kill you with a finger.

As the evening turned into nighttime you ended up sitting in the corner by yourself for a moment as the others got more beer, went to the bathroom or had to take a smoke. Ana and Reinhart left to go check on her daughter and you were unsure of where the rest of Gabriel's strike team. You think you remember hearing Jesse say something about looking for stronger stuff. You look at your phone to occupy your attention for a moment but you get interrupted by a blond woman sitting beside you. Looking up, you see that it’s Angela. “Hey Angie! Long time since I’ve seen you.”

“It has been. Too long my friend.”

You look around and notice that it’s still just you and her in the small corner of the pub. “How has everything been going here? Have you been getting what you need?”

“I have. Overwatch has more resources and money here that I can tap into but they have more restrictions than the others. The money that the medical division has access to makes my research easier but I’m not free to test it like I would be if I was only with the others.”

“I understand. Let me know if you need anything and I’ll send out the word.”

“Thank you. How’s your mission going?”

“It would be going easier if he was actually here.”

“He’ll be here soon. I made sure that he wouldn’t miss tonight. Any idea on how you’re going to get Gabriel to open up and to trust you. Other than with McCree and Morrison, he’s not overly personal with anyone.”

“I have a few ideas and tricks up my sleeve. First, I’m going to start by buying him a beer.”

“You’re not going to seduce him are you?”

“Angela! I’m not that kind of agent.”

“Just making sure. Gabe may be a hard ass but he’s a good guy. He doesn’t deserve to have his heart toyed with.”

“I would never do that on purpose but I need this mission to go well or you know what happens.”

“I do.” Your friend pauses for a moment before she looks up. “Here is your chance because he just walked in.”

You feel your heart begin to race with the anxiety of your mission. “Here goes nothing.” You chug the rest of your beer for a bit of a confidence and walk over to the tall men standing in the corner. Jack and Gabriel are talking and you can hear them discussing Jesse’s accident.

“The building is secure Jack and go easy on McCree. He’s just a kid.”

“A kid who knows better and is old enough to work for you.”

You sense slight tension between the two men but it dissipates as soon as you stand beside Jack. “Good to see you again (y/n). Glad to see my test didn’t put you off.”

“It takes more than to get me.”

“Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind.”

You look down at your empty glass before looking up at the two men in front of you. “I am officially out of beer. Would either of you like anything?”

“I would darling!” You hear Jesse exclaim excitedly  as he wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you in for a gentle squeeze. You turn your head so it faces Jesse and remove his arm from around you.“I’ll buy the next round then.” You walk away and smile at the group behind you and walk over to bar to order a round.

You’re not sure how much time has passed but you are sure that you’ve had one beer too many. That doesn’t stop you from setting down another pitcher on the table between you and the others. Most of your group had left and now it was down just to you, Angela, Gabriel, Jack and Jesse. 

“Okay! This is the last pitcher I’m buying tonight.” 

“That’s what they all say darling,” Jesse tells you flirtatiously while giving you a wink. 

“Oh no mister! You can’t sweet talk me into buying you more beer or doing anything else. You may be able to flirt your way through this base with your southern charm but it ain’t gonna work on me.”   
Jesse’s face drops into a pout and you give him a wink back.

Gabriel pats him on the back while chuckling deeply. “It’s okay kid. It’s not the first time you’ve been turned down and it defiantly won’t be the last.” 

“Hey!” Jesse pouts again before crossing his arms a crossed his chest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

Gabriel lets out a deep rumble of laughter. Clearly the alcohol has let him lower his guard a bit since he’s not a stern and serious as he was earlier in the evening. “Do you remember poor Nina from IT.”   
“Oh boy,” you hear Jack mutter beside you. 

“Gabe! Why do you have to bring this up everytime?!” 

“Because someone has got to keep you in you place but it looks like our newest member is doing that just fine. I think she’s going to fit in quite well” 

You turn your head to give Gabriel a warm smile and you see that he’s already looking at you. You take another drink of the beer sitting in front you to momentarily distract you but you can feel your cheeks warm. You’re not sure if it’s from the way Gabriel is looking at you or from the alcohol or the temperature in the pub, or from his compliment. Maybe it’s a combination of all four? 

“I feel like there’s a good story here,” you pip up, drawing Gabriel’s attention back to Jesse. 

“You have no idea the shit McCree pulled over here just to get the poor girl to go on a date with him.” Jack tells you and you hear Jesse groan from a crossed the table. 

“Just let her be a lesson for all our sakes McCree.”

“Yes sir,” Jesse grunts back at Gabriel. 

“Now get going kiddo. You’ve got an early morning of clean up duty from your stunt this morning.”

You can’t help but notice a small eye roll from Jesse and you let out a giggle. Both men snap their head at you in question but you shake your head no. “I best be off the bed as well since I also have an early start.” You stand up but lose your balance for a moment and have to catch yourself on Jack, who is sitting beside you. “Whoops! Sorry Jack.” Luckily he laughs and tells you that it’s alright. 

“Just be careful walking home,” he teases you. 

“Understood.” 

You’re almost out of the building when you feel a large presence beside you. Looking over your shoulder, you see that it’s Gabriel.   
“I thought I would walk you back to your quarters.” 

“Thank you but you don’t need to do that.” 

“You almost toppled over onto Jack and you’re in very high heels.” 

You look down at your feet to see the four inch black pumps that you are currently wearing. Smirking to yourself, you’re glad you have Gabriel alone to help get your plan going.   
“On second thought. Maybe some company would be nice.” 

The large man besides you chuckles and you loop your arm through his for some balance. Gabriel is significantly taller than you but his body is firm and strong compared to yours at the moment. Despite the cold air outside, he is giving off a lot of heat. Looking up at his face you can see some scars along his jaw and his dark hair coming out from underneath his hat. You have to admit that he is a very, very attractive man and if it was another world you wouldn’t mind getting to know him for personal reason. 

Your thoughts are interrupted when he demands you “What?”

“Huh?”

“You were staring.” 

Well shit. This isn’t a good first impression. Smooth move being caught ogling him. “Sorry,” you mutter. “It’s just, you’re a curiosity to many, as well as a concern.” 

“Humph,” is the only noise he makes for a moment while pursing his lips. “And what am I to you?”

“A little of both to be honest. The famous Gabriel Reyes passed over for his less experienced friend, Jack Morrison for the role of Strike Commander but instead is placed into a top-secret sister organization that most of the world has no idea exists. What could have happened to caused that?” 

“An excellent question. I’ll let you know when I figure out the answer myself.” 

Opps. You clearly touched a sore spot. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“It just seems I hit a touchy area.” 

“Just forget it.”

You nod your head in understanding as you and Gabriel continue to walk back to your quarters. The moment is awkward until you can think of something else to talk about. 

“Jesse seems like a good kid.” 

“He is.”  
“He seems to really admire you, despite you being hard on him.”

“Ha! A kid like Jesse needs someone to crack down on him every once in a while or else he would cause havoc.” 

“So how did it come like this?”

“Haven’t you read the file?”

“I have but what made you decided to take a criminal under your wing and make him one of the most prominent assets to Blackwatch. Within three short years he was good enough to be put on Strike Team One. Do you do that often?” 

“He was just a fifteen-year-old kid when I first met him. A member of the Deadlock gang and a wanted criminal. I felt bad for the poor kid since he never knew right from wrong. Falling into the gang at the age of ten. I made the executive decision to make him my responsibility and put that raw skill to do some good.” 

“I can’t imagine Jack was too happy with that.” 

“He wasn’t.” He tells you while shaking his head. “He yelled at me for a week straight about how stupid I was being. It’s worked out luckily but I still think I’m an inch shorter from the strip he tore off me.” 

You can’t help the laughter that escapes your lips and you look directly at Gabriel to see him smiling down at you. Man, that was a smile you could get used to seeing. No brain. You need to stop going down that path before it’s too late. 

The two of you have a moment of silence but it wasn’t awkward like last time. It’s a comfortable silence as you continue to walk before you reach your door. “Uhh, this is my quarters. Thank you Gabriel.” 

“It was no problem.”

“And thank you for the chat. It was lovely.” 

“It was. I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Yes. Goodnight Gabriel and I look forward working with a man such as you and seeing what good we can do.” 

“Goodnight.” Gabriel unloops his arm from yours and you grab your keys from your jacket pocket. Turning around to face the door, you lose your balance and fall into him. His arms quickly wrap around your waist as he holds you there for a moment. You’re too embarrassed to say anything so you just awkwardly lean against him. 

“Uhh, thanks…again. I guess I drank more beer than I thought.” 

He chuckles again and you can feel the rumble in his chest. “Don’t sweat it,” he tells you as he places you back onto your feet. He stands behind you with his hand on your lower back, making sure you get inside safely. 

“Yeah, thanks!” you tell him quickly before opening the door and quickly closing it behind you. 

Dear God. What have I gotten myself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't look at this chapter anymore. I'm sorry


	3. The Winding Road Of Darkness

Walking into your office one morning, you find a brown folder sitting on your desk. “Odd”, you mutter to yourself while pausing for a moment to stare at the folder since it wasn’t there when you left last night. Opening it up and briefly skimming through, you see that a group of your organization’s agents have captured a spy that was cracking down on them and their operations in Russia. Carefully hidden in the papers of information and intelligence, there’s a handwritten note addressed to you.

_“Agent,_

_Congratulations on getting your foot through the door, but the hard work had barely begun. We have run into some trouble in Russia and our operations could be jeopardised. Your assignment is to retrieve the Estonian Spy, Mia Indreka (who is a pain in our side) from Koshmar Prison (where we’ve been keeping her) and find out exactly what she knows about us and our operations in the area. We tried the hard way but no avail. She will most likely be receptacle by showing kindness and open arms, if you promise her aid. I trust you know what to do._

  * _Oversight”_



It looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you. You’re not sure about how exactly you’re going to convince Gabriel that she will be an important asset to bring into Overwatch but you’re sure you can convince him, one way or another.  You spend most of the day on research, gathering information from your analysis, mission op and trying to make sure every last detail is flawless. This mission is going to be dangerous but not only are you helping your boss but your contact will be able to help Overwatch. The situation seems like a win-win.

Finally, as the sun is setting, you finish typing up the last little bit of your report before you send a message to Gabriel to see if he can meet. He quickly replies that it will have to be early tomorrow morning since he just got back from his last mission.

With nothing left to do for the day, you decide its best to go home and relax. You’re meeting with Gabriel begins at six am and you’re not exactly the most alert in the morning. Getting back to your apartment on base, you change into your pyjamas and watch television until it’s an appropriate time to go to sleep. But you find it difficult to fall asleep as your worries about being caught keep coming up to your conscious thought.

The next morning you stumble into your office bleary eyed and not at all ready for the day to come as you spent have the night tossing and turning worried that you’re going to get caught and your cover is going to be blown. Setting your head down on your desk to rest for a moment, you look at your phone 5:59AM.

“Ugh. I seriously need some coffee if I’m going to be able to function through the rest of the day,” you mutter to yourself while your head is still laying down against your desk. A few moments later you are interrupted by someone in the door way who clears their throat. Looking up you see it’s Gabriel standing in your door way with two large coffees in his hand.

“Here. I brought this one for you. I heard you’re also not a morning person and I figured you could use one as well.”

Gabriel walks over to your desk and sets the coffee down in front of you before sitting down in the chair in front of your desk.

“Thank you,” you mutter before taking a gulp of the hot coffee. It tastes like a vanilla latte. How did he know they were your favourite?

“Figured I should repay you for the other night.”

“Don’t worry about it. I hear the mission in Brazil was a success.”  

“Much better than anticipated.”

“Yes,” you reply with a small laugh. “I heard them celebrating last night.” Gabriel gives you a smile in response. “Think they’ll be mission ready so soon?”

“Of course. What are the mission details?”

“Oh right! There has been some chatter about a NATO spy who was capture and brought across the Russian boarder. I went down to the desk and they sent over some intel. She could be a valuable asset to Overwatch with her skills.”

“Mhmmm,” is all Gabriel gives you in response while rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip.

While your boss is in thought, you bring up a building and its blue print. “Alright.” You turn your computer around so the screen is facing Gabriel. “Do you recognize this building?”

“It’s Koshmar, the Russian prison.”

“Exactly. We recently got intel that a potential asset I being locked away and tortured for information.                                                                                                            

“What’s so special about her?”

“She’s originally from Estonia but was a spy who was working for NATO. She was in the middle of investigation of a drug cartel and was supposedly meeting a contact for information in Estonia, about 60KM from the boarder when the Russians grabbed her and dragged her a crossed the boarder. We think she’s being kept there and that she might be willing to join us if we help her take them down.”

“Yes. And?”

“The specific drug this cartel is dealing is similar to the stuff used on you and Jack during the SEP except it’s been laced with some other stuff to make it highly addictive. Not only does it make its user feel invincible but it makes them stronger and less susceptible to pain during their high. The drug has swept a crossed Eastern Europe and the Asia Pacific region, killing thousands. Currently Mia Indreka is the only one who’s gotten close enough and she has clearly scared them. My suspicion is the Russian government is involved and is making a fortune off this drug, especially considering how low the ruble is right now.

“So we rescue her and we potentially get the drug off the market.”

“Yes! The earlier we take it down the less harm it can do and the least likely someone is going to take their place. Once your team rescues her, its up to you to convince her to stay with Overwatch and share her intel. But from what I hear, that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“And what have you heard?”

“Nothing, sir,” you reply cheekily while giving him a grin as your boss stares back at you. “If you believe that this mission is important to your goals then I can get the paper work started.

Gabriel extends his hand for the mission dossier on your desk and you hand it to him. He reads through it for a few minutes in silence while you twiddle your thumbs. You’re about to ask what he thinks but he speaks before you.

“It’s completely dark?”

“Consider we’re breaking international law and technically invading another country as a military organization to break someone who may or may not help us out of a government facility. Yes, it’s completely dark. Russia’s relations with Overwatch are tense as it is. We don’t need anything to provoke them.” You take a large breath before continuing your explanation to your boss. “Strike Team One and Five will have communication with each other within the country but-” Gabriel cuts you off for a moment.

“Two teams? That’s too many to go across the boarder. You can’t use all my teams for one mission.”

“I’m not! I’ve already talked to your Asia team and they said they currently have nothing planned, therefore I could use two teams. Besides Team Five will only be in Russia for drop off and departure. They are your best flight team after all.”

 “I’ll consider it. But what if they get caught?”

“You know the rules Gabriel. We deny their existence and plea that they were working on their own.” You pause momentarily while your boss frowns at you. You have to admit that it’s slightly intimidating. “From the look you are giving me, I can tell you don’t approve but I assure you I have a plan if things go south.” Gabriel just cocks one eyebrow up at you. “I’ll let you know if it comes to it but it shouldn’t since we’re taking all precautions in advance. I want all our people to come home, safe and sound, Gabriel.”

“I know and I’ve got to agree that the potential benefits outweigh the risks.”

“I’m assuming this means you’ll sign off on the paperwork?”

“Yes.”

“Great! I’ll have it done around dinner.”

“I will let team one and five know they will have mission briefing first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Why not tonight?” You interrupt him before he can get out of his seat. “After the paperwork is signed.”

“Huh?”

“The sooner we get this mission and rescue Mia, the better. Russia is three hours ahead of us. If we have briefing at six, and then fly out an hour late to our safe house in Ukraine, where I’ll be staying and you if you so decide to join. Then the teams fly out to Russia and it’s still in the middle of the night. Let me think for a moment...” You stop talking as you think out the detail of the flight. “The flight into the Dontesk is roughly five hours, which would make it three in the morning their time and the two teams would arrive at their safe house around four-thirty in the morning. It’s still going to be pitch dark out and that makes it easier for the jet to sneak across the boarder.”

“I’m starting to see why Jack said you would be perfect for black-ops. You’ve got quite the sneaky brain on you.”

You blush at his comment and stare down at your desk for a moment, unsure of what to say. “Uhh, thank you. I can see why Jack is fond of you.”

“Yeah? And why is that?”

“You care?”

“I’m not making the connection.”

“You care not only about the people closest to you but about the well being of all the men under your command. You try your hardest to make sure they are safe and happy and to bring them home to their families. You may be an asshole at time but it’s nice to know there is another side to you. The caring is not something I’m used to when it comes to a military organization. It’s nice to know your people aren’t just tools to be disposed of. I appreciate it and I appreciate you for it.”

You both stare at each other for a moment. Is he blushing too? Gabriel breaks the silence with a thank you before standing up and begins to walk out of your office. Before he reaches the door frame, he turns and asks you one question. “Does it ever bother you?”

“Does what?”

“The illicitly of it all. You’re a lawyer right? Don’t you make an oath to uphold the law?”

“Technically I am but this job is a bit more than just ‘lawyering.’” He chuckles at your terminology. “But does a criminal lawyer feel joy when he defends someone who they know is guilty?”

Gabriel just raises his eyebrows at you in response.

“The answer is no to that question by the way. But they’re doing their job and upholding a system that is needed in the world. Blackwatch is kind of like a criminal lawyer. The program was designed to by pass the legal chokehold the UN’s Security Counsel has on Overwatch. Right now Jack can’t sneeze without the Counsel knowing about it and without a country trying to impose their foreign policy goals onto his missions. We are here to get around that and able to do the right thing by some bad means sometimes in order to do more good without a country becoming too pushy. You’ve done this job for what? Three years?”

“The Blackwatch part.”

“Right and it’s just now becoming so large that you’ve had to create separate divisions within to keep things organized. You’ve done some nasty stuff but the good has always outweighed the bad.”

“So like a criminal lawyer, we keep the system going. Without us, the system would collapse.”

“Yes! And we would forever be locked up within the internal politics of the Security Counsel. I think I read the other day that there’s a generation growing up in complete peace. I’ve read the old files Gabriel. That’s because of you and the work you’ve done. So please don’t ever feel bad about the not so great things you’ve done because it has been worth it. All this is possible because you and I bend the law and work in the shadows.”

He quickly nods his head at you while giving you a smile. You smile back at him and for a moment everything seems clear and calm. “Care to watch me ride the boys asses’ in training this morning before you see them out in the field?”

You give him a big grin to his question, “I’d love to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the love, support and of course all your patience!


	4. My Shadow Doesn't Show In The Dark

 

 

You spend the morning with Gabriel, watching him train with his guys. You’re rather impressed that he workouts with them instead of what you’ve normally seen. The boss standing around and yelling at his team. Well there is yelling but it’s mostly at Jesse for goofing off. Poor kid, he gets more attention from Gabriel than the rest of the people training this morning. It probably doesn’t help that Jesse is the youngest, by only being twenty-three.  You do notice that any nice, softer moments of coaching between the two seems to be quickly covered up with yelling. You can’t help but chuckle to yourself, as if Gabriel is going to convince anyone with any amount of yelling that McCree isn’t his favourite.

You’re just about to leave the training ground when Gabriel runs up to you. You can clearly see his defined muscles of his arms and chest through his sweat slick shirt. Wow! He is nice to look at. He doesn’t have his typical beanie on so this is the first time you’ve seen that he has dark brown curly hair. You wonder what it would feel like to run your hands through it. At this point you’re practically ogling your boss when he finally stands in front of you. “Care to join them?” he asks while giving you a playful chuckle.

You look down at your outfit for a moment before looking back up at him and laugh in response. You are obviously not dressed to workout but it’s nice that he feels he can joke with you. “I think I’ll have to pass for today. It’s hard to workout in high heels. Besides the mission dossier isn’t going to finish writing itself and I have to make sure everything is fully prepped for this evening.”

“Alright, next time then?” he teases.

“I’ll keep your offer in the back of my mind,” you respond and turn your back to him in order to walk away but he quickly yells behind you.

“See you in a few hours.” All you do to respond is turn your head and smile back at him while he stands there staring after you as you walk away.

Several hours later, you’re standing in a jet, wearing plain black clothes with no logos on them, going over your last minute check list.   
  
_Communication Equipment- Check_  
Two weeks of rations - Check  
Specialized Tech for each Agent- Check  
Weapon Arsenal Full- Check   
Russia Police Uniforms- Check  
Enough American Currency in bills to buy off the entire Kremlin- Check  
Two duffle bags of Brazilian Cocaine-  
Parachute Jump Equipment- Check  
Strike Team One-  
Strike Team Five- Check  
Pre flight check- Check  
Commander Reyes-  
 

Everything seems to be in check. All you’re missing is Team One, Reyes and the cocaine. Standing there reading, you feel a presence come up behind you.

“Am I an item on your checklist?” You hear Gabriel’s familiar deep voice behind you. You turn and look up to smile at him.

“Of course! I couldn’t forget about our beloved Commander,” you tease him.

His eyebrows raise in jest, “am I that easily forgettable to you?”

“Depends on the time of day, _Sir.”_

“I’ll remember that. We’ll see how cheeky you are under the stress of being in the field.”

“You may regret that as it could be worse.”

He looks like he’s thinking about saying something sassy while both of you stare into the other’s eyes, trying to out sass the other with a look but are interrupted by Jesse and the rest of Team One walking onto the jet with two duffle bags. Jesse comes up between the two of you and briefly looks between you. “Am I interrupting something?”

You take a step back from Gabriel and look away to hide the blush that is now rapidly rising on your cheeks. You hear Gabriel clear his throat and give a firm no to McCree’s question. You’re not sure what to do at this moment but why does it feel like you were caught doing something naughty? Luckily the pilot, Jared, comes up to you.  “Ma’am, Commander Reyes, we’re ready when you are.”

“You have the flight path figured out?”

“Yes, we will be undetectable going into Russia and Ukraine. We’re cleared to fly until Romania but once we get into Moldova, we are going to have fly low.”

“Excellent. Everyone get buckled up.” You turn away from everyone to ask your pilot one last question that’s burning on your mind.

“Uhh, Jared?”

“Yes Ma’am?”

“What happens if we get caught flying?”

“We get shot out of the sky and die a fiery death,” he informs you with a sincere look on his face. No sign of worry or jest. You’re not sure if that makes you more nervous.

“Ahahahaha,” you laugh nervously, “Good to know…I guess.” 

During the ascend, everyone is sitting in silence, mentally preparing themselves for the mission to come. All joking and teasing was no more while everyone went into mission mode. Even Jesse was being stoic. You’re lost in thought when Jared walks up to you. “Ma’am, we’re at peak altitude and auto pilot is on. You have an hour for briefing before we descend into Moldova.” 

“Thank you Jared,” you smile up at him as you unbuckle yourself to stand up. Grabbing your hologram projector, you bring up the blue prints of the prison. “Ten of you will be landing in Russia while the rest, including Commander Reyes and I will we doing a free fall parachute jump into outskirts of Donetsk. Where we will have to move quickly and quietly to the safe house.” You pause to turn and look at your pilot. “Before we took off, Jared has informed me that that it’s too dangerous for us to land in the Ukraine twice so we’ll have to land on the ground by our feet.” He nods his head and gives you a small smile before you turn back to the rest of your team.

You bring up a photo of a women on the screen. “This is Mia Indreka. She was a spy working for NATO when she was capture in Estonia and brought across the Russian border. She’s currently being held in Koshmar prison and being tortured for information on a drug cartel that’s making its own version of the SEP. NATO can’t get her because they would be breaking international law but they’ve given us their permission to rescue her and bring her into the ranks of Overwatch to help complete her mission.

Five of you will be going into the prison. Letitia, Tatianna and Jesse will be disguised as prison guards. Hugo and Amir will be the “drug smugglers” who were caught at the boarder trying to bring in cocaine. Thanks to Letitia’s quick work, the prison believes they are getting two new inmates tomorrow afternoon. You’ll have the two duffle bags with you to help convince the story since it’s common for the ‘acquired’ drugs to be sold again on the market.

Once inside, Tatianna and Jesse will be escorting Hugo and Amir to booking while Letitia sneaks off and disables the security system. Tatianna, it will be your job to find Mia via the blueprints I sent to your watch. Amir will be going with you and it’s his job to find an available escape route via the same blueprints I sent to his watch. Jesse, you’re there in case things go wrong and they need some fire power. You’ll also be driving the team to the prison in the van I have set up for you at your destination. The five of you will have no communication devices as you’ll be completely in the dark in order to keep you safe.

Noelle will be waiting for a signal to pick everyone up and drive you back to the plane where you will fly back immediately to Commander Reyes and I. Adilah and Andalee will be up high, using their sniper scopes to watch for any signs of trouble.

Jared and Haley will be waiting on the plane, ready to go. Adilah, Andalee, Noelle and Jared will have communication devices in order to coordinate your departure and landing back here.

Commander Reyes and I have you scheduled to land back at the safe house at midnight.” You pause for a moment and look around. “Any questions?” the team shakes their heads no. You dismiss everyone and begin to mentally prepare yourself for what’s to come.

“Have you ever jumped out of plane before?” you turn around to see Gabriel standing next to you.

“I have but it’s not something I do often.”

“When was the last time?”

“Uhhh, Latvia during my time working for the peacekeeping mission.”

“Jumping out of plane for a civilian operative?”

“I know unusual but the planes couldn’t get low enough to land without being shot out of the sky by the omnic force that was controlling the Baltics.” You look at Gabriel and study his face for a moment. He looks completely invested in your story. “It was Jack’s idea actually. I was paired with a doctor and the village we were assigned to go to was surrounded by omics, therefore we couldn’t get in. The villagers desperately needed medical attention so Jack suggested we parachute in with the military and it worked!”

“That’s Jack for you. Always thinking on his feet.”

“Yeah! He made a lot of people feel safe.”

“Ma’am we’re descending into Moldova and about thirty minutes from the drop zone. I would suggest you get prepared.”

“Thank you.” You walk over to one of the boxes near the rear of the plane to grab ear pieces. Handing one to Jared, Noelle, the co-pilot, and the twins, Adilah and Andalee before placing one in your ear. “You four will communicate on line two but when you come back switch to line one where Commander Reyes and I will be on.” You tap a couple buttons on your watch and hear the connection sound in your ear. “Line two?”

“Line two secure,” Noelle replies.

Gabriel walks over and grabs one out of the box before placing it in his ear and stares down at you. You seem him fiddle with his watch while keeping eye contact and giving you a small smirk. “Line one?”

You smile back at him and switch your channel. “Line one secure.” Turning around, you grab your pack and double check to make sure everything is there before strapping it to your back. Carefully placing your parachute on and your goggles on to of your head. You must have zoned out for a moment because Gabriel comes close to you.

“You look nervous.”

“That’s because I am. I’m about to jump out of a plane into a country that would probably be more than happy if I never stepped foot into it again.”

“Oh!” He raises his eyebrows in question, “I feel like there’s a story there.”

“Let’s just say that some of the locals and I don’t get along anymore.” You take a deep breath trying to calm down your nerves when Jared yells back at you.

“Are you ready Ma’am? I’m about to open the doors.”

You swallow the lump in your throat, “go ahead Jared.”

A loud alarm begins to go off as the ramp descends. Wind quickly fills the plane and it’s cold against your skin. A red light fills the cabin and gives everyone a red tint to their skin.

“When the light turns green we have forty-five seconds to jump or we’ve gone to far past the jump zone,” your boss instructs you but you’re not exactly paying attention. Your trying to calm your nerves. “Hey! Listen to me,” he tells you to grab your attention while he grabs your hands. They feel small compared to his. “Everything is going to be alright. I’ll be with you the entire time. I promise you that you haven’t forgotten how to do this.”

You nod your head in agreement as the light turns green. Looking past your boss, you see the four other members jump out as Gabe yells at you to come on.

Okay. Okay, I’ve got this, you tell yourself trying to hype yourself up as you run and look back where Jesse is standing. He gives you a wink and a salute while yelling, “good luck!” It’s the last thing you see before you topple off the edge of the plane.

“Ahh- holy shit, holy shit,” you scream as you do a involuntary black flip in the air. You eventually manage straighten yourself into the proper position to slow yourself down. You watch the ground beneath you and can see city lights in the horizon. The feeling of free falling is exhilarating and it’s just how you remember it. The wind is cold on your cheeks and you can feel it through your pants, chilling your legs. Taking a deep breath, you pull the cord to release your parachute and begins slowly descending towards the ground.

A few moments later you hit the ground with an oof and get tangled in your parachute. You struggle to get out of it until one of the members of the team runs over to help you. You can see Gabriel silently chuckling. You narrow your eyes at him but continue to walk with the rest of the team towards the safe house.

Once inside, nothing really happens. The team sets up for communication and tries to find out any possible intel that could be useful in the future. No matter how small it may seem at the time. Everyone takes turns in who stays up and who gets to rest. You volunteer to stay up for a while and watch what goes on. The waiting during the missions passes by slowly. You talk a bit to Gabriel and the rest of the team but it can only take up so much time. Eventually it’s your turn to rest.    

You’re not sure how long you rested but it doesn’t feel long when one of your teammates knocks on the door and sticks their head in.

“Ma’am, Commander Reyes wishes to talk to you.”

“Thank you. I’ll be right out.” She leaves the room and you take a moment to fully wake up and smooth down your hair before stepping out.

“You wanted to see me?”

“Yes. Jared communicated about five mins ago saying they crossed the boarder into Ukraine.”

“They should be here in roughly 20 mins.”

“Just be prepared. There was an odd radio signal coming from the area.”

 “Understood.”

Twenty minutes’ passes and then another five. Your boss begins pacing back and forth. You can tell he’s begin to make a plan of attack to find his guys. “Gabriel, it’s only be a few minutes past the time they’re supposed to arrive. Give it a few more minutes.”

“A few more minutes could mean life or death for them. I’m going in to find my guys.”

“Do you know what area they were last flying over.” He points over a tiny section on a map near the Russian border and you feel your heart drop into your stomach. “You’re not going.”

“Yes I am.” He tells you adamantly “I’m the one in charge and you take orders from me. Not the other way around”

Wow. That didn’t take long for him to pull the boss card on you. “Gabe. Gabriel, you’re not going alone.”

He stalks over to you and leans in so his face is inches from yours. You can tell he’s upset but trying to hide it. “Why not?”

“I mean this in the nicest way possible, _boss,_ but what are you? An incredibly large, intimidating looking, man of colour. Your whole appearance screams suspicious. I’ll go. I know this region well and have spent a lot of time here. I can easily get in and out.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You have no combat training, not do you have the skills to negotiate their release if they’ve been captured.”

You’re getting slightly ticked off with him. You wouldn’t have offered to go if you thought it would instantly get you killed. “Don’t underestimate what I can and cannot do Gabriel. I may not have the fighting skills you and your team have but I have a plan. Besides I’m the only one out of the four of us in the safehouse who knows the language.”

“Fine but I’m coming as your back up.”

“I don’t-” he cuts you off before you can protest.

“I’m coming and that’s finale. I don’t like the idea of taking a civilian out into hostile territory.”

We’re already in hostile territory,” you joke but he shoots you a look that could melt ice. Oops, clearly, he’s not in the mood for lightning up. “I can handle myself if we get into trouble.”

He sighs deeply. “Grab your gear and let’s go.”

You grab your jacket, some money out of the duffle bag and lace up your boots. You leave as your boss is instructing the other two on what the current plan is and to get ready for a quick extraction. Sitting quietly in the driver’s seat of the jeep you had previously stolen from a neighbour, you think of the best root to drive. A few minutes later Gabriel slides into the passenger seat. The first ten minutes or so of the drive is silent and you can physically feel the tension between the two of you.

“Where are we going?”

“An abandoned airport. It’s not too far from here.”

“How do you know they’ll be there?”

“This area isn’t really under control by the Russian or Ukrainian government. The fighting has stopped between the separatist and the Ukrainian army since the revolution and invasion sixty-ish years ago, but the infrastructure was badly damaged. Most people left and it’s been free territory for the mob. They have a base of operation here where they target low flying planes, mostly smuggling planes. They hack into the computer system and force them land at the airport. All they want is the goods in the plane to sell on the black market for American currency. They make quite a profit.”

“How do you know all this?”

“It’s…, it’s a long story.”

“Why didn’t you tell Jared about the potential of the plane getting hijacked?”

“I did! Before we even left Switzerland but he must have thought it was a risk worth taking.” You turn a street corner onto a dirt road. Turning off the headlights and driving for a few more minutes in complete darkness before reaching a hill. Parking the car, you turn it off and step out, grabbing a pair of binoculars.

When you turn around your boss is already out of the car and is standing besides you. Before you can ask him anything, he closes the space between your bodies. His arm wraps around your waist and he pulls you against him. You’re sure he’s going to kiss you this time. More certain than the first time you two met and you wouldn’t mind if he were to. His body is firm and warm against yours and you close your eyes in anticipation.

“Here.” You feel something cool slip into the back of your pants. “A gun, in case we get into trouble.”

“You could have just handed it to me instead of getting in my personal space.”

“I could have _but_ you blush every time I do that to you.”

You can feel your face get warmer and the tips of your ears get hot. Grr… that man… “Oh,” you huff exasperatedly as you shove him away from you.

“Shall we?”

“Yes.” You glare at him this time as you’re the one not impressed with his attempt at joking around with you.  The two of you silently walk up a hill until you reach the top and hide within the trees and bushes. You can see the airport and it’s clear it’s been somewhat abandoned for a while. It’s run down and most of the windows are missing. Upon a closer look with the binoculars, you can see the jet and a few people standing around it but non of them look like your guys. You turn and look at Gabriel to whisper to him, “follow me.”

You walk back down the hill and he follows but stops once he sees you walking down a path towards two armed guys. You hear Gabriel whisper-shout behind you. “What are you doing?”

“Trust me!” Continuing to walk towards the two men, you bring you hands up where they can be seen. Once the guards notice you, they immediately come to attention and aim their guns you and begin shouting in Ukrainian.

“Stop where you are. This area is off limits.”

“I mean no trouble. My friend and I just want to talk.” You nod your head in Gabriel’s direction.

“Better start talking them.”

“I want to talk to Alexi and only him.”

“What makes you think we’re going to bring you to him?”

“Because an old friend is claiming a favour he owes us.” You hear the two guards murmur between each other and your boss gives you a questioning look. They don’t look pleased but agree to take you to him. They walk towards the two of you and begin patting you down. You can see Gabriel visibly tense out of the corner of your eye but he remains still.

They find and remove the gun from your back and toss it to the ground. One motions to the other to pat down Gabriel and he begins removing the arsenal of weapons he has hidden on his body. How many can he hide? Damn, you’re impressed when they keep pulling them out of places like his socks.

The one who patted you down grabs your upper body and you instantly tense in his grasp as he ties your hands behind your back. You look over to see they’ve done the same to Gabriel. They shove the two of you forward and you begin walking towards the airport.

The walk is uncomfortably silent as the guards push you forward. You’re unsure if your plan will work but you’re somewhat relieved it hasn’t gotten you instantly killed. You’re hoping you’ll be able to escape with everyone, mostly intact. Here’s to hoping you don’t get the Commander of Blackwatch killed in the process. It would be hard to explain to your bosses that you got him killed while trying to complete their mission. You doubt it would end well for you.

Eventually you’re pushed into a section of the building. The guards escorting you yell at some of the others in a language you don’t understand. Chechen maybe? The new guards run off towards the back. You wait around impatiently as your heart pounds in your chest and you can ear your pulse in your ears. Soon enough, a well dressed, middle-aged man appears from the back and walks towards you. You recognize him as Alexi. His guards in tow and staring you down intensely.

Alexi keeps several feet between you while he begins talking in Ukrainian. “To what do I owe this meeting for?”

“I want to make a trade.”

“A trade?” His eyebrows lift with curiosity. “What could you possibly give me that I don’t already have or could easily acquire?”

“Money. American Money to be specific.”

“You’ve caught my attention. What do you want?”

“For starters, we’re going to conduct this trade in English so my friend over there can understand us.”

He looks behind you at Gabriel for a moment before saying fine in English.

“Secondly,” you continue in English, “you’re going to get your goons to untie me and my friend.”

He nods his head and yells at one of his guys to untie you. You feel the coolness of a knife slide between your wrists before you’re free. You bring them out in front of you and rub the sore spots, feeling the blood return to your hands. “Thank you. What I want is that jet you stole this evening along with all it’s contents in tact and the people that were in it.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you owe us, specifically me a favour.” Alexi looks at you in disbelief. “Five years ago, you were almost fatally shot by an omnic trying to take this very airport. You should be dead Alexi, but your life was spared due to a certain doctor. Once everything was over with, you told him you owed him a favour and it could be whatever he wanted and claimed at anytime.”

“You don’t look like the male doctor.”

“I’m not but do you remember the young woman who found you and pulled you out of the ruble? Saved a couple of your men from some of the remaining omnics and made sure no one tried swiping your territory while you recovered?”

He squints his eyes at you and closes the distance between your bodies. What is with men doing this to you today? You can feel his breath on your face as he stares into your eyes. You stare back, just as fierce, despite the sweat beginning to trickle down your back.

“That’s all we want. Let me and my men go, along with all our stuff and if you wish you’ll never have to see us again but if you like the other half of my deal then perhaps we can do business again.”

“It’s not business if one party isn’t getting something in return.”

“Oh but that’s where you’re wrong. I have something for you too.” You reach in between your boobs and grab the money you hide there. He gives you a questioning look. “I didn’t want your men to find it since they were inviably going to pat me down for weapons before they brought me here.” You hand him the wad of money. “Ten thousand American dollars. You’ll receive ninety thousand more once we make sure we have all our equipment and make it home safe. If even one granola bar is missing, you’ll get no more from us.”  

“You drive a hard bargain but you’ve got a deal.”

You feel your shoulders relax slightly. Alexi yells something at a few more guards and they rush off towards the back. “The money will be wire transferred to you via an offshore account to one of your offshore accounts.” Before he can question you, you continue to speak. “Don’t worry Mr. Shevchenko, I have my ways of making sure you get your money.” Before Alexi can say anything else, you see your team walk out along with a strange woman, Mia. She looks at you momentarily and you give her a small smile before she runs off with the rest towards the jet. The remaining of the team come towards you and Gabriel. All of them go to talk to the Commander but Jesse. He stands beside you and whispers in your ear “am I ever glad to see you doll face.”

You look back at him and smile. You’re glad everyone is okay. “Get in the plane Jesse, before I leave you here.”

"If I didn’t know better but after a few months you’re really starting to sound like Gabe.”

“Move Jesse.”

“Yes Ma’am!” He gives you a mock salute before running off. Everyone has gone to the plane but Gabriel. He hasn’t left your side the entire time. You turn to look at Alexi one last time to speak to him but this time in Ukrainian. “You’re not _too_ bad of a man for a mobster, Alexi, but you have gotten worse since the last time I was here. A lot more security. But who am I to judge? I’m doing bad things as we speak.”

He smiles at you and waves you goodbye. “You tell that doctor of yours that I say hello.”

“I will. Maybe sometime in the future we can do business again.”

“Only if it benefits me this time, my dear.”          

Your turn around and walk towards the plane. Walking up the ramp with Gabriel at your side you can see the team is doing a quick check to make sure everything is where it’s supposed to be. Mia is standing awkwardly with her arms a cross her chest, looking around nervously. She looks very unsure of the situation and begin to walk towards her but Gabriel grabs your upper arm.

“Wait.” He releases your arm. “How are we sure the doctor isn’t going to want to claim that favour.”

You feel your stomach drop for the second time tonight. “He won’t.”

“How though?”

You swallow a lump in your throat. “Because he’s dead.”

“Oh.”

“And I am… was the only one who knew about it.” He looks at you like there’s more he wants to ask but it’s not the place to do so.

Shortly after a voice you’ve never heard before pipes up. “Not that I’m not thankful for the rescue but who the hell are you guys and what do you want from me?”

You walk towards her. “Mia? If I’m correct.” She nods her head at you.

“Who are you guys?”

“This is Commander Reyes, he’s the one in charge.”

“And she’s the one who’s responsible for your rescue…twice now.”

“We’re here to help.”

“I’ve hear that before. You’re going to want something in return so what’s it going to cost me?”

“It’s not going to cost you anything Mia. Your disappearance has made chatter across all lines. I contacted your handler at NATO but he said there’s nothing he could do due to international law. So, I offered up to do it if he would release you to join my team. We have the money, the equipment and the people to help you with the job. You can get justice for your brother’s death and help keep others away from the drug.”

“How do you know about my brother?”

“Your handler gave me your file. I read it so I would know best how to convince you. You can help us or you can go free once we land in Switzerland. The choice is yours.”

She doesn’t say anything for a while, deep in thought. “I’ll join, on one condition. I get lead.”

“You can co-lead along with me, Commander Reyes and The Asia section. It’s going to be a group effort but you’ll be able to make decisions.”

“Deal.”

“Welcome to Blackwatch Mia Indreka.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            


	5. Pretty Girls Don't Wanna Know The Things That We Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say what? Two chapters released in one week! Enjoy everyone!

You spent the better part of two hours tossing and turning in your bed, unable to fall asleep. Anytime it seems remotely possible, you have flash backs of past horrors. With no hope of falling asleep anytime soon, you roll over in your bed to turn on the light on your night stand while grumbling, oh fuck it, might as well get up. Taking a moment to rub your eyes from the sudden increase of light, you look out of the window. The stars are shining but you could probably get a better view from the roof. The cool air might help you go back to sleep and calm your anxiety.

You open the door to the roof, only to have the cool night air hit you and bring chills across your body. Should have brought a sweater but you won’t be out here for long. Peaking around the corner of the door, you see a tall, muscular man standing on the ledge, smoking. He turns to face you once he hears your footsteps and it’s non-other than your boss, Gabriel Reyes.

He looks back out at the skyline. “What are you doing out here?” he asks before taking a drag of his cigar.

“I couldn’t sleep and wanted some fresh air.”

“Nightmares?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“Same reason over here.”

“Oh.” You stand there for a moment, not exactly sure what to do other than stare up at the sky. You break the silence before you feel like dying of awkwardness. “Care for some company then?”

“Sure. Why not?”

You give him a smile and stand there, trying to think of anything to say. Romantic life? Nah, he doesn’t seem like the type to share that easily. Family? No. You were afraid with your sleep deprivedness, you  might slip up that you know more than you should. You lose your train of thought when you smell of his cigar flows past your nose.

“I didn’t peg you for a smoker.”

He turns his upper body to face you. “Bad habit I picked up in the military. All the guys did it and I guess I joined too. Never gave much thought to it or tried to stop. Seem to do it more when I’m stressed.”

You let out a little laugh. “You? Stressed Commander? I never would have guessed,” you tease him. He laughs at your joke. “All the field work you do, wouldn’t help that either. You know Gabriel, you don’t always have to go on missions with your teams? All seven strike teams could go out into the field and you wouldn’t need to be with one of them.”

“I need to make sure my men know that I’ve got their back. That I will do everything in my power to make sure they get home safe. I need to show them that I’m a leader, not just their boss,” he replies while putting out the cigar.

“I understand that but smoking isn’t a good stress reliever. We would all hate if you keeled over from stress. Why don’t you come for a run with me tomorrow?”

“You go running to relive stress?”

“Well I would have suggested yoga if I didn’t think it would have gotten me punched in the face. You don’t really seem like the yoga sort of guy.”

“You don’t really seem like the yoga sort of lady.”

“Oh I am. Every Thursday I go with Angela and Ana and afterwards we go out and drink wine.” He raises his eyebrow in suspicion. “Okay sometimes we just do the wine… It’s the thought that counts.” He laughs a deep hearty laugh. “We get talking about what’s bothering us and let off a little steam. Why don’t you do it?”

“I’m not really a wine guy either.”

“I don’t mean the wine. I mean the talking part. What’s got you so stressed right now?”

“Mia, the whole SEP drug on the streets but it being ten times worse than imagined, our Asia desk doesn’t know how to handle this, you don’t know how to handle it but you can’t even help because you’re busy making sure the Balkans don’t blow up… again.”

“Let’s start at the beginning. I thought Mia was doing well.”

"She is. She's very stubborn and not used to being a part of a team. She was a specialist and did things by herself. The taking time to make decisions before we go out into the field is killing her. It's going to take time to adjust and she doesn't fully trust everyone. Which is to be expected." 

"She's a bit of a wild card but that will just take time to solve. What's going on with the Asia team? I thought they were taking the lead for now." 

"Unfortunately, as we've found out, the drug is being made in Russia and shipped out from there. It's landing in major ports and cities. We have surveillance teams watching, trying to find a lead but everyone is being quiet. Anyone we talk to gets kill and anyone who could have information ends up murdered before we can reach them. The med team analyzed the samples Mia had and they think it might be produced near the Volskya factory due to some crystallized metal being found in the drug but they said it's a long shot. We will potentially have to send in a team to scout the area but right now it's too risky. And you and your team can't aid at the moment because you're making sure the Balkans stay calm." 

"Well, I go to Kosovo next week to set up a team in order to monitor and control the situation from there. I'll be gone a week but when I come back I'll put this on the top of my list. Don't send your guys to Russia until I can take a closer look at the whole situation." 

"Sounds like a plan." 

"Good. We'll figure this out Gabriel. Besides don't you go to Numbani soon? To keep an eye on the human-omnic relations?" 

"Yes... how did you know that?" 

"I talk to your assistant a lot and bribe him with cookies to make sure I no longer get six in the morning meetings with you. Sometimes we talk about you and he lets me know some of the mission details of the other operations. Peanut butter cookies are his favourite by the way and I make the best." 

"You really were made for Blackwatch." 

"Suck it Debbie! I'm Harold's favourite now and your ginger snaps are no match for me." 

"How did you figure out they're his favourite?" 

"I asked your second assistant, Samatha." 

"Do I even want to know how you got her to tell?" 

"A lady has to have some secrets, Gabriel." You give him the cheekiest grin you can do.  

“I suppose so.”

“Besides, Harold informed me that when your mother calls, she calls for ‘Gabi’ and I find that completely adorable.”

“He wasn’t supposed to let anyone know!”

“Why? Are you blushing Commander?”

“No!”

“You are! You’re right, making someone blush is hilarious.”

Gabriel clears his throat. “What about you? I read your file and it says you spent quite a bit of time in Russia.”

“I did. I was fresh out of university and wanted to see the world a bit before getting a job. Little did I know it would lead to this in the end.”

“You wanted to travel so you went to Russia?”

“My great-grandmother was born in the Soviet Union. She was only a young girl when The Wall fell but up until her death, it was one of her most vivid memories. She was a hardy old lady and forced everyone in the family to remember her roots on top of speaking Russia. Near her end, she would refuse to acknowledge your presence if you didn’t speak to her in Russian. I don’t know if she was just being stubborn or forgot her English. I always wanted to see the places she talked about.  Unluckily or luckily, I’m still unsure, the Omnic War broke out and people were needed. So, I joined the Red Cross and later the United Nations.”

“Then what?”

“You read my file. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Okay.” He turns his body so he’s completely facing you now. “After the war had died down, you went back to school to do your masters in global affairs and your law degree, focusing on international law. You did them at the same time and in three years instead of four. Graduated in the top five percent of your class. Where you proceeded to article at one of the world’s leading law firms, only to get hired back the following year once you were called to the bar. For the next couple years, you solely worked with international human rights cases. Which caught the attention of the UN, the International Court of Justice and of course Jack Morrison, who you had worked with before. For the next year, we watched every single case you had, especially the ones that went to trial. Gotta say, I was impressed. Still am with your work and understanding of the ever-changing situations. Luckily, we had a job opening and now you’re here.”

“If you were so impressed, then why did you intimidate me the first day?”

“If you haven’t noticed, I like to joke around.”

“Oh, I’ve noticed.” You smile at him before a cool breeze blows by and you let out a shiver.

“Cold?”

“A little.”

“Here,” he shrugs off his sweater and hands it to you.

“Won’t you be cold?”

“No. Since the SEP, I run a little warmer than usual.”

“Thank you.” You put on his gray sweater and it’s much larger than you but it’s warm and comfy. It smells like him as it has a slightly spicy smell of an herb you can’t quite place mixed with the smell gun powder and ivory soap.

“What was it like?”

“It was difficult at times. Some days we didn’t think we would make it through. The drugs they use to enhance our natural abilities would sometimes burn as it ran through our veins. The pain could be excruciating.”

“That sounds awful.”

“It could be. Jack was there with me the whole time and we would be by each others side when it hurt. He always was the most optimistic of everyone. Always the golden boy.”

“Sounds like you two are close.”

“We are. _Were._ ”

“Oh.” You pause, unsure of what to say to that. “Does it still hurt?”

“No,” he laughs, almost sadistically. “But now some bastard is selling it on the streets and mixing it with steroids. To make matters worse, they’re lacing it with cocaine so people stay addicted. Unfortunately, not everyone’s system can handle it and people are dropping dead in the streets.”  

Wait? What? That’s not what you were told about the drug. “Gabriel, we’re going to figure it out and fix the problem.”

“But why would they need the soldier enhancement drug? Unless… unless someone was creating an army.”

No. That can’t be it? Can it? Why would your bosses want an army of super soldiers? This isn’t looking good. “We will figure it out but until then speculating what the reason behind it isn’t going to help anything.” You take a deep breath. You definitely have some questions to ask your supervisor at a later date.

“You’re right.”

“I normally am,” you tease him as you let out a yawn.

“Tired?”

“I am getting sleepy. Perhaps I should go back to my room and go to sleep.”

“I should do the same. I’ll walk with you back to your room.”

“Thank you.” The walk back downstairs was quiet as you’re more preoccupied with wondering why your bosses lied about the drug. You knew it killed some people but it was supposed to help not hurt. Before you knew it, you were standing in front of your apartment door.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Gabriel. Thanks for the chat.”

He goes to turn away from your door but quickly turns back. “You know you can call me Gabe.”

“Goodnight Gabe.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things should be steaming up soon but don't worry, nsfw chapters will be marked.


	6. Playing With Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the lovely comments everyone! They make my day and encourage me to write faster. Lots of love! <3

It’s been several weeks since your night on the roof with Gabe but ever since then, you constantly have butterflies in your stomach when you think of him, see him or talk to him through a message. No matter how much you try to get him out of your head, he pops right back in. Feelings and work do not mix well as you figured out long before, especially if he’s your boss. But something was different about Gabriel Reyes. He’s intelligent, caring, protective all while being relaxed and funny as hell at the same time. Not to forget his physique. It makes your heart swoon whenever you think of him.

You snap yourself out of your day dream and look at the clock on your hollow pad. It reads that it’s 1:17pm and you mentally curse yourself for getting distracted when you have a 1:30 meeting with Jack, Ana, a few other officials for Overwatch and of course Gabe.

You’ve started your own private investigation into the SEP drug problem once finding out that not everything was as it seems and your superiors are hiding details from you. You were supposed to share all your findings with them but you’ve been skimping on the details and have hidden the specifics about your own investigation, or the fact that you’re doing one. Things weren’t looking good and you want to get to the bottom of it. You’re finishing up the last few details of your notes for the meeting when your phone beeps with an incoming text message.

_“SEP status report.”_ Is all it reads and your heart begins beating fasters. This is the third message in two days. You have been skimpy on the details but you thought you had made up for it by sending information about other Blackwatch operations. You know Overwatch is filled with double agents but you and Director Petras are the only high ranking officials. The only reason you’re here is because he doesn’t have full access to Blackwatch.  You shove your phone angrily into your pocket, grab a dossier and walk out of your office towards the elevators. As you turn the corner you see Gabe, standing there waiting and your heart skips a beat.

“Fancy meeting you here,” you tease him as you step up behind him.

“Yes, especially since I was the one who requested you at the meeting.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, why should Jack always have his people with him and I can’t have mine? Besides I need you to have my back.”

“You do?”

“Don’t look so surprised. Jack and Ana aren’t going to be very happy when we tell them we want full control of the issue.”

“They’re going to have to come to terms with it. It’s the safest option for everyone. We wouldn’t even need this meeting if they hadn’t decided it was an ‘Overwatch’ issue.”

“I know but Jack understands how bad this is. Sometimes he has a hard time separating his heart from the job. Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing if roles we reversed.”

“It’s really bothering you, isn’t is?

“Yeah. I just wish our last lead didn’t end up dead…again.”

“We’ll keep things low key and see if our luck starts changing.”

The elevator dings, letting you know that it has arrived at your floor. Gabe jesters for you to enter first and he follows behind. “How was Numbani?” you ask him.

“Hot, even for Numbani’s standards but everything is going smoothly, for now. How was Kosovo?”

“It rained the whole time we were there. On top of it all, our jeep broke down in the middle of the mountains so we had to carry everything the rest of the way to the base.”

Gabe laughs a deep laugh, “It’s good for you. Keeps you on your toes.”

“We manage to survive the experience but I do have a pair of boots that need replacing. Also, while I was there, a young man showed up dead on the street from an unknown substance. I took the liberty of sending scouts throughout the Balkans to see if they could find anything and it’s not looking good. I know I didn’t ask for permission to do so but I was afraid if we waited too long, we’d lose another possible lead.”

“It’s fine. Just try not to make a habit of it. What did they find?”

“Here, it’s not an official report but I would like to keep it that way since we’re trying to keep things on the downlow,” you hand him your dossier for him to read. As he opens it as your phone rings with an incoming text. You pull it out of your pocket and it reads:

_“STATUS REPORT. NOW.”_

Your heart speeds up and you can feel your face drop before you quickly shove your phone back into your pocket.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah. Just one of those silly messages, telling you about new phone plans.”

Gabe nods his head in understanding as the doors open. You step out and Gabe follows suit while you both walk towards the meeting room. When the two of you walk in, everyone is sitting there waiting. Jack and Ana are at one end of the table, across from the chairs that are empty for you and Gabriel, along with the Eastern Europe and Asia senior analysts.

It’s been twenty minutes into the meeting and you have gotten nowhere. No one can decide on the best course of action and now everyone is bickering.

“We can’t sit around and do nothing,” Jack semi yells, sounding frustrated.

“We’re not saying that,” Gabe responds, sounding just as irritated as Jack.

“Us sitting here and bickering about it is getting us nowhere,” Ana inputs.

“I agree with Ana. We’re not trying to cut you out. This issue is very delicate and the less people on it, the more likely we are to figure out the situation,” you inform them. “When I was in Kosovo, we found traces of the drug all throughout the Balkans. So, I sent some scouts to see if they could find a trail and they did but it gets worse. The drug is one hundred percent being made in Russia but it has started to be shipped across the Mediterranean Sea into Libya and Egypt.”

“She’s right Jack. The less people on this, the better. Especially if the problem is spreading and every lead ends up dead,” Ana tells him, trying to get him to see reason.

“Sir,” the Eastern Europe analyst, Natalya, interrupts, “I have to agree with Commander Reyes and Ms. (L/N) as well. Particularly since the drug is being made in Russia and Overwatch has no clearance whatsoever to operate in the country.”

“This is what Blackwatch was designed for.”

“You’re right. I let my heart get in the way and for that I’m-”

Jack is interrupted by a knock on the door before he can finish and your assistant, Jordyn, sticks her head through. “Ma’am, Director Petras has requested to see you in his office.”

You can feel sweat begin to form on your back as your heart beats faster. Shit. He’s Gabe’s boss on top of being your actual boss. This can’t be good. Maybe ignoring those messages was a bad idea. “Can you tell him I’m currently in a meeting?”

“He said it was urgent and to fetch you immediately.”

“Understood, I’ll be right there.” Just as your assistant goes to leave you tell her a thank you. “Excuse me but I find it’s best to not keep the Director waiting. Unless your title starts with Commander.”

A few moments later, you’re knocking on the Director’s door. He answers with a grumble but before you enter you take a deep breath to calm your nerves. “You wanted to see me, Sir?”

He’s sitting down at his desk, looking at some files before looking at you and gesturing to the seats across from him. “Yes. Please sit.”

You sit down, in front of him and swallow the lump that has formed in your throat. “It’s come to my attention that you and Commander Reyes have requested to have complete control over the SEP drug situation.”

“That would be correct.”

“Why?”

“Gabriel thought it would be best to keep the investigation small.”

“I figured that much. Why does he want that?”

“Because all the leads end up dead and he figures the smaller we keep this, the more likely we are to succeed. Even the last lead ended up dead and I didn’t report about that one.”

“You’re not the only agent we have in Blackwatch but you do get more details than the others.”

“That’s my job, Sir.”

“Speaking of your job. You’ve been slacking on details on the drug problem.”

“There’s not much to give as of now,” you lie.  

“Mhmmm.”

“I’ve been giving all details of all other missions. Including the encryption codes for the software devices being used in Kosovo.”

“Yes, but it might come across to some that you’re hiding something.”

“I’m not-”

“And some of the higher ups have noticed how close you and the commander have gotten in the recent months.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play foolish with me girl!” He practically spits, leaning in towards you. “We’ve seen the doe-eyed looks between the two of you. Keep your mind clear and your heart out of this. The last thing I want is to have to pull you out when we’ve put so much into you getting here. But since you’ve caught the commander’s attention, use that to your advantage and get us what we recruited you for. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes.”

“Anything you’d like to share?”

“No.”

“Good. You may leave now.”

You turn to walk away but as soon as you’re about to exit the door, the Director pipes up again. “Oh, and if I find out you’re hiding any details of any mission ever, especially the SEP drug mission, we won’t hesitate to teach you some manners.”   

“Understood, _Sir_.” You close the door behind you and rush back to your office. Where you proceed to close the door, and sink into your chair before laying your head on your desk.

Holy shit, am I ever in it deep now.


	7. The Fire Starts To Burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the kudos and lovely comments! I hope everyone enjoys the next chapter!

You were extremely frustrated. Work was more stressful than you ever imagined, and Director Petras’ threat was not helping the situation. Let alone your now very complicated relationship with Gabriel. You liked him, a lot but apparently, all your bosses figured that out and wanted to use that against him to get what they wanted. What the hell is a woman supposed to do?  So, you thought working out and punching the punching bag down in the training facility would help elevate some of your pent-up frustration. That was until Gabe walks in.

“You’re not doing that right,” he tells you as soon as he sees you.

You ignore him for a moment and continue kicking and punching at the bag, trying to get every thought you’ve ever had about him out of your head but it was becoming difficult since he was standing behind you now.

“You need to punch across your body and kick with your hips.”

You turn your body around to face and slam your hands down to your sides. “Ugh! I know Gabe. Proper form isn’t my focus right now.”

“Woah. Something is clearly bothering you and I see you’re taking a page out of my book.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Yes. Now turn around and I’ll teach you how to do it correctly. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“Fine. Not going to say anything about me not doing yoga instead?”

“No. Besides this I actually know a few things about.”

“Okay,” you sigh as you turn around to face the bag once more but as you do, you feel Gabe’s body press against yours. Your face heats up and a twang of arousal begins to pool in the pit of your stomach. His body is much larger than yours but you fit nicely against him. He reaches around you and grabs your hands before placing them into a proper fist and angling your right arm into a defensive position in front of your face and the other in front of your abdomen. He then puts a leg between yours to keep your legs hip width apart.

“This will protect your body from any incoming punches,” he informs you in your ear and you have to physically hold back a shudder. “And to punch you’re going to bring one arm across your chest, like this.” He grabs your right wrist and brings it forward towards the left so you hit the bag. He then does the same with your left to repeat the process. He steps away from your body and you immediately feel the loss of warmth. “Try a couple by yourself.”

You do so and it feels much better than what you were doing before. You feel slightly more relaxed with each punch. You turn your head to look at him and tell him, “Thanks. It feels better.”

“Great. Now bend your knees a little when you punch.”

“Like this?” You do what he instructed but it feels awkward.

“Not quite. Try like this.” Gabe presses himself against your back, his hands resting gently on your hips. You feel your whole body flush and it suddenly feels very warm in the room. He pulls your hips towards him so your butt is out slightly, pressing against him. “Now bend your knees and try again.”

You do as you’ve been coached and quickly begin hitting the bag, one punch and then another and another, getting yourself into a rhythm despite feeling Gabe’s breath on your neck. Your punches feel more powerful as you continue to hit the bag in front of you.

“Great, now try kicking. Remember to use your hips since that’s where all the power comes from.”

“It feels weird when I do. Like I’m going to fall over.”

“That’s because you’re kicking too high. I’ll help you.” Gabe slides his left hand down from your waist all the way to your left knee. Your skin tingles from where his hand slid. He lifts your leg from the knee and instructs you to extend it before his other hand pulls your right hip towards him and his left leg pushes your left hip forward. He repeats the motion and you kick the bag, keeping your foot low. You do it a couple times before he steps away and instructs you to do the same with your other leg.

After a few minutes of the repetitive tasks, he tells you to include some punches into the mix and you quickly fall into a routine. Kick, punch, punch, kick, repeat.

“Excellent. Now come over here.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re going to practice against me.”

“How come?”

“Because practicing against a person is a lot harder and punching a guy in the face can be therapeutic. At least I find so.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Gabe laughs a deep, hearty laugh. “You won’t hurt me, besides getting punch in the face occasionally is in the job description.”

“Okay.”

“Now get over here and show me what you’re made of.”

“I see why your new recruits say you’re a bit of a hard-ass.” He chuckles at your comment as you walk over to where he’s standing on the mats. You place yourself in the defensive position he taught you, preparing yourself for whatever going to come.

“Good, now take a swing.”

You throw your right fist across your body, aiming for Gabriel but he moves out of the way. So, you try with your left and he doges it again. You try a couple more times but he expertly doges it. You try to sweep his feet from underneath him but he grabs your foot and throws you to the ground. 

“Again,” he tells you as he extends a hand to help you off the ground.

Fine. If he was going to be that way about it. You take the moment of him helping you up to try and sweep his feet again. It succeeds and he falls to the ground but grabs on to you, dragging you on top of him so you’re straddling his waist. “Ha! I got you.”

He gives you a cheeky grin. “Not quite.” Before you know it, he’s flipped your position so you’re now laying on your back, with your arms pinned above your head while he’s straddling your waist. What you would give to be in this position again but in completely different circumstances. He leans his upper body down so his face is centimetres from yours. You are certain your whole body must be flushed from arousal now and you’re wondering how many blood rushes a person can take in the matter of a few minutes. “Your eagerness gave you away.”

“Damn it!”

“And I was expecting it.”

You glare at him in response and he chuckles at you.

“Now, try to get out of the hold I have you in.”

You try to free your wrists from his grasp but you can’t. Then you try to flip him the same way he flipped you but to no avail, he’s much stronger than you. He has you completely pinned and you can’t think of anyway to get free. He must have seen the disappointment on your face because he gives you a hint.

“You’ll never out strength me but you’re much littler than I am so use that to your advantage.”

You think for a moment, trying to push out the though that your boss, your _very_ hot boss is currently straddling your waist. This time you try wiggling your body in anyway you can. He looks down at you in confusion for a moment until you’re able to break free from his grasp. You made your body all sweaty thus loosening the hold he had on you. “Yes! It worked!”

“Not what I was going for but it’s a creative way. Let’s try again.”

“Alright.” You throw a couple punches his way once more but he manages to dodge them again. Just when you’re about to give up, he catches you by surprise when he swings one at you. You’re not expecting it but you manage to just miss it.

‘Nice reflexes.”

“Thank you!”

“Let’s keep going.”

You continue your routine of swinging a couple punches his way as he continues to dodge them, until you throw one punch and he grabs it with his hand and somehow manages to spin you around and press your body against his as he keeps your arms held to your chest. “What? No fair!” you exclaim.

“Try to get out of this one.”

You silently chuckle to yourself since you’ve already been taught how to get out of this position. Your turn your wrists so they’re facing down towards the floor. In one swift motion, you push your arms down, throwing your entire body weight against Gabe to break free and it works. You turn around to face him and give him a cheeky grin this time.

“Where did you learn that?”

“A lot of volunteers were being kidnapped during my time working with the Red Cross. So, they taught us some self defense but unfortunately that’s the only one I remember how to do.”

“Okay, try to get out of this one,” he grabs your waist and pulls you close to him so the front of your body is pressed against his.

“Oh no, Gabe! I’m not going to blush just so you can get a laugh out of flustering me.”

“You’re already blushing.” Damn it! Body why must you betray me? “Besides I’m not joking with you this time.”

What? “You’re not?”

“No.” He leans his head towards yours and you hold your breath in anticipation. Your heart begins pounding erratically and you feel butterflies throughout your stomach. Just as his lips are about to touch yours, a loud wailing sound begins coursing throughout the building.

“Shit,” you hear him swear under his breath as he pulls away from you, his hand dropping from your waist.

“What the alarm for?”

“It’s the security breach alarm.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning we’re currently being attacked.”

“What?! What are we supposed to do?”

“You’re supposed to do nothing but follow me. Let’s figure this out.”

You follow Gabriel as you exit the training facility and you see him pick up a rather large gun on your way out. As the two of you walk down the hallway, he keeps the hand holding the gun forward while his other hand makes sure you stay pressed against the wall. The alarm is much louder in the hallways and white emergency lights are flashing within.

Just as you exit the facility, you run into Genji, Gabriel’s new recruit. Along with Lena, Jack’s new recruit. They look as scared as you feel but they look relieved to see Gabe.

“Sir, what do we do?” Genji quickly asks.

“Nothing as of now.”

“Any idea what’s going on?” You question.

“There’s a bunch of huge, almost super-soldier like armed men storming through the building. They’ve already blown off the door to yours, hers and a couple other Blackwatch officials’ offices. By the looks of it, they ransacked the place. Clearly looking for something. Commander Morrison instructed us to go make sure communications is locked down.” Lena informs you and the commander.

“I’ll go to communications. The three of you go to medical and hide until I get there. And _DO NOT_ open the door under any circumstances. Unless it’s either I or Commander Morrison.”

“Understood.”

You turn around and run off with the other two towards the medical wing of the building. The sound of the alarm buzzing through you ears as your heart pounds in your chest. You haven’t felt this terrified in a very long time. Once inside one of the medical labs, you have a moment to catch your breath and only one thought crosses your mind. What if this is the beginning of the ‘manners’ Director Petras was talking about? From what you know, they’ve only attacked Blackwatch offices and the description of the men would fit what happens when you take the SEP drug. Would Petras be so peeved, that he would order men to attack his own base? No. There’s no way.

You don’t have long to find solace in your thought as there’s a loud pounding on the door before an explosion goes off. The room around you turns a bright white and for a moment you can’t hear anything. You feel a set of arms pick you up as your vision slowly returns and a loud ringing begins in your ears. Your senses come back to you and you realize you’re being held by a man who you do not know. You scream as you scramble to get away, only just managing to get your feet to touch the ground before he grabs you again. Pulling your back to his chest and bringing your arms in front of you. You look around the room to see four more men. Two on Genji while the other two are on Lena.

You’re in the same position that you and Gabriel were practicing in earlier today. You turn your wrist once more so they’re facing the floor and throw your entire body into the move. The force pushes him back and gives you a chance to run forward, away from him. You turn around to see him coming for you again and you grab a scalpel off the table and throw it at him. The bastard manages to catch it between his two hands and whip it back at you. You duck and it narrowly misses you, slinking into the wall behind you.

You quickly look around the room for solutions but see none. Genji and Lena are currently fighting against three of the four men, while the fourth lays on the floor. You’re unsure if he’s unconscious or dead. You back up as far as you can but you’re currently pressed against the wall with the man fast approaching. He’s huge and must be at least a foot taller than you with muscles all over his body. There’s nothing left for you to do so you do the only thing you can think of.

“ **Gabe?! Gabriel?! Help!”**

Your chest starts to hurt from breathing in and out quickly and your palms feel sweaty as you start to panic. There’s no where left for you to run and you’re currently defenseless. Oh shit. Petras wasn’t kidding when he said they wouldn’t hesitate. You’re about to scream again but you get distracted by a loud thump somewhere to you left. When you turn to look, you feel a sharp pain in the back of your neck before it all fades to black.


	8. I'm Not Afraid Of God But I Am Afraid Of Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Blood, Violence, Torture, Threats of sexual violence (nothing happens) and General Abuse. If any of that makes you uncomfortable then please don't read it but this will most likely be the darkest chapter in the whole story. Everything shall be tagged accordingly.

You begin to come to consciousness and you immediately feel a pounding in your head, along with a dull ache coursing throughout your body. Slowly, you open your eyes and you notice the room is mostly dark, with light coming in through a small window and from under the door in front of you. You go to move but notice your hands are tied behind your back as you’re slumped in a chair.

“It’s about time you woke up,” you hear a deep voice off to your right. You turn head to look and let out a groan due to the sudden rush of pain to your brain. What exactly happened and where the hell are you?

“You’ve been out for two hours, thanks to the tranquilizer we gave you on the way out of the Overwatch base.”

“What do you want?”

“That’s not important right now. What’s important is that you were warned of the consequences of your actions and what would happen if you disobeyed orders but despite that, you continued to do so.”

“Shut the hell up.” You feel a sudden impact across your face, knocking it to the side, as the man in front of you grins. “Well that was rude,” you reply once you get your eyes to focus on him.

“I’m not here to be nice dearie. I’m here to get you to do your job and to teach you a lesson.”

You stare back at him with the best death glare you can muster.

“The bosses are not happy with you. You were supposed to send intel on the SEP project but you decided against it. So, they got me to enforce that you do what’s asked by reconditioning you.”

“Recondition?”

“Torture, brainwashing, whatever I deem fit.”

“You can’t do that.”

“I can, I will and I  _ have. _ ”

“Why?”

“Because I’m the Reconditioner. Here to deal: with pesky agents who think they know better, along with agents from other organizations that we want, and a variety of other problems.”

“Torture has been proven to not work. All it does it makes the person tell you what you want to hear.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe the point is to get you to remember your job. So why don’t you start telling me why you’re not sending all the intel that Blackwatch has?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Another slap across your face, this time in the opposite direction. Your cheeks burn and you can taste metal in your mouth from accidentally biting your cheek.

“You want to play difficult with me girl?” He grabs your chin and tilts it up so your looking up at him. He leans his head close to yours and you can feel his breath against your face. “Because I have no problem cutting on that pretty face of yours.” He pauses for a moment before giving you a wicked grin. “I wonder if the Commander would still like you if I uglied you up?”

You feel anger course through your body and you spit in his face. He immediately let go of your chin and backs up. You see a look of pure rage across his features before he punches you in the face. It hurts. A lot. Your body is screaming at you to escape. “I don’t like my personal space invaded.”

“That’s too bad.” He steps forward to close the distance between the two of you again. This time he grabs your hair at the base of your neck and pulls back. You yelp in pain. A cool metal object is pressed against your throat. You quickly realise it’s a knife. He’s not pressing it hard enough to cut your skin but it’s not comfortable. “So, you mind telling me why you’ve been hiding details?”

“There’s nothing to tell! I can’t tell you information I don’t have!” It’s hard to talk with you head at such an odd angle. Feeling the knife against your pulse point does not help. You can hear your pulse in your ears.

“Really now? We went through your office, along with the Commander’s, found evidence of scouts searching the area for our dealers. Dealers you hadn’t let on that Blackwatch was onto. Dealers we now need to terminate and find a new source to distribute the drug. You were digging into places you knew you shouldn’t have been. You almost kept catching the trail but we quickly terminated everyone we could spare.”

You feel sick to your stomach. It looks like your desire for the truth has gotten more people killed. “Why?”

“Can’t have Overwatch knowing they’ve been infiltrated.”

“That’s not what I was asking.”

“Then what?”

“Why are you getting innocents hooked on a drug that’s meant to build super soldiers? What purpose does the organization need an army for?”

“An uprising is coming and you better make sure you’re on the right side.”

“I’ve made my choice.” You spit the blood out of your mouth that’s been accumulating.

“And that is?”

“Go to hell.”

“Oh, you’re a feisty one. No wonder the Commander likes you so much.”

“Please just shut up.” You get another punch to your face and you can feel blood running down from your nose. Fuck. That hurts more the second time around.

“Still feel like being sassy?”

“Why not? It’s worked so well for me this far.”

“Good, makes this more fun.” He brings out the knife he had pressed against your throat earlier and slowly, drags it down the length of your body. He’s not applying enough pressure to cut anything. You can visibly see your chest rise and fall as you try to calm your breath. You’re about to make another remark about him trying to scare you but you’re cut off when he flips the knife and jabs it into your thigh.

“Arrghhhh!” You scream and throw your head back. Fuck. You didn’t expect that. Oh god, it hurts.

“Such a pretty noise you make.” Looking back at him, you can see the perverted smile across his face.

“Speaking of the Commander, since you’ve caught his interest, it will now be your task to isolate him. Make him feel like he’s alone, that no one is there for him, make him feel like he’s alone to suffer. On top of gathering Blackwatch intelligence.”

“And why would I do that?”

“It’s best way for us to undermine Overwatch. We take apart the base level foundation, the original founders and the whole thing will come crumbling down. Then, and only then, we can rise to our full potential.”

“What makes you think I’ll ever help you after this?”

“Because you don’t have an option. We’ll kill Reyes and put a new commander in his place, one who’d be more willing to cooperate with our goals. Not to mention killing everyone you know and love,” He pauses and adds as an afterthought, “And if we’re feeling nice we’ll kill you but only after you watch them die. If we’re not feeling nice, we’ll brainwash you causing you to be compliant. But I wouldn’t recommend going down that route, the process isn’t pleasant.”

“How kind of you but the Commander won’t be an easy man to kill.”

“Oh, we know. That’s why we plan to destroy him from the inside.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

He chuckles at your comment. “Since you felt like continuing the be sassy, I’m going to have to make this a lesson to remember.” The man snaps his fingers and two guards rush off before coming back with a large metal basin. “But first, how about we stuff that pretty mouth of yours since you want to flap those goddamn lips so much?”

For the first time tonight, fear and dread begin to fill your body. You have no idea what he wants to stuff your mouth with but you know it won’t be good. Your heart races with the thought of all the possibilities until you feel a section of your hair being grabbed before it gets pulled back. You let out a yelp before you’re cut off with a plastic ball being shoved in your mouth. You try to yell in protest but the object makes it difficult.

“You look much better with something in your mouth.” You want to say something but the gag is preventing you so you settle for a death glare instead. “You’re lucky I’m feeling nice today or else it would be something much more personal inside that mouth of yours.”

You do anything other than glare back at him. You’re well aware what he’s referring to and you’re thankful it’s not that. But his tone of voice was a lot calmer than it was before so you know he’s not saying it just to strike fear in you.

He steps closer to your body and sinks down in between your knees so he’s millimetres away from your face. You feel his hot breath against your skin once more as he leans in to whisper against your ear. “Let’s get rid of that shirt of yours so you don’t accidentally  suffocate to death while I repeatedly dunk you into the basin of water.”

He leans back from your face and pulls out the knife he was using previously. He places the tip and your chin and gives you a wicked grin before slowly dragging it down your throat. Placing enough pressure to cause a bit of bleeding, but not enough to cut you open. It stings but it defiantly doesn’t hurt as much as the stab in the leg did. He arrives at the top of your chest and pushes in, causing you to yelp, quickly followed by heavy breathing but it’s muffled by the gag. You notice more blood running down your body.

“Did you say something?” he teases.

Oh, you’re really going to enjoy killing him when you get the chance. The point of the knife starts cutting down the top of your shirt, leaving a mark along your skin as he goes.  

Finally, your shirt is cut off and the pieces are removed from your bruised and beat up body. He takes a step back before giving you a long, lingering look up and down your body.  “Maybe I will use that mouth of yours when you’re too exhausted to fight me so you take it like a good girl.” Before you can say anything to protest his threat, he closes the distance between you and stabs his knife into your hip, causing excruciating pain. You scream as loud as you can but you’re muffle by the gag in your mouth.

“Stop your crying. It wasn’t deep and it didn’t hit anything vital. That was just a reminder to behave yourself. I’m going to take off this gag and remove your ties and you’re going to behave like a good girl. If you don’t, this gag will be put back into your mouth and will make it much harder to hold your breath.” He reaches behind your head and unfastens it so it falls to the group before wrap an arm around your body and cutting the ties off. You let out a sigh of relief only to tense right back up when you see a large metal basin be brought in. The man who’s been talking to you, cups your face almost gently to bring your attention back to him. “Understood?”

You reluctantly nod your head in agreement as he lifts you off your feet and drags you to the basin. Your entire body is screaming in pain and you begin to feel woozy from losing blood.  Looking into the bucket, you can see it’s filled with water and ice cubs. This is going to suck so much.

“Now, after every dunk into this freezing cold water, we’re going to ask you questions and you’re going to answer them truthfully without any sass. You sass me and each new dunk will be longer. You try to fight me or any of my guys and I’ll put that ball gag back into that mouth of yours. And if you really annoy me, me and my boys will use your body in any way we see fit later on.”

You don’t say anything in response, knowing that this psychopath means every single word he’s saying. He pushes you to your knees and you cry in response. Your entire body hurts and your stab wounds feel like they keep opening some more. Two men walk behind you and the one in charge stand directly in front of you, across from the basin. One of the strange men grabs your hair and pushes your face forcefully forward so you immediately hit the water. It’s cold, almost as cold as swimming in the Atlantic Ocean during April. You instantly hold your breath but as the seconds pass they show no sign of bringing you up. Your body instinctively begins to panic and you start squirming and thrashing in the water. Your hands flail to grab something but they catch onto nothing when you’re pulled up. Your breathing is hard as you struggle to catch your breath and your eyes lazily focus on the man in front of you.

“Why were you doing your own investigation into the drugs?”

You stare at him, trying to think of the answer but the recent abuse of your body is making it hard. “Because I knew you were hiding something from me and I wanted to know.”

“It’s not your business to know.”

“I got curious and wanted to understand who I was really working for.”

He snaps his fingers and you’re dunked into the water again. This time you immediately begin to panic as you weren’t expecting it and the some of the water is placed in your lungs. It burns and you have the urge to cough but you know that won’t help any. You’re brought back up by someone pulling on your hair and immediately you begin coughing and spitting out water. “It’s not your job to understand the organization and its goals. It's your job to do as you're told and get under the Commander. Looks like in this case you took it literally.”

“I’m not some whore to be used to gather intel.”

“I don’t think it’s whoring if you like it.”

You feel particularly angry at his comment and before you can stop yourself you snap. “Shut the fuck man.”  

“Oh, that touched a nerve. Don’t like being called what you truly are? The Commander’s dirty whore. You probably can’t wait to get back to the base so you can lay down on your back while he uses you.”

You’re dunked again into the water before you can say anything. The process of being almost drowned before being brought back up and asked questions continues for an unknown amount of time. You’re unsure how many more times you were put through this torture but your upper body is dunked once more into the cold water of the basin. Your lungs feel like they’re on fire at this point from holding your breath past your limit and then inhaling the cool liquid.  Your body’s initial reaction is to squirm and try to fight in order to survive but you know there’s no point. They may have said that you were going to go back to Overwatch base to try and control Gabe in the sick, twisted way they want to destroy him but you’re not sure your body will survive much longer.

Just as you’re pulled up from the water, you think “This is it”, you can’t take another hit to your body, or another dunk of water. But you’re interrupted by the sound of a loud crash followed by two deafening gunshots.

“What the-” the man who’s been torturing you drops your weak upper body due to the distraction.

You fall into the bucket of cold water once more. Your lungs quickly burn again as you take in some of the water. You struggle to find the edge of the basin to lift yourself up to stop yourself from drowning. After several long moments of splashing and thumping, you finally grip the edge and pull yourself free. You collapse on the ground, coughing up the water you in took and watch the scene unfold around you.

The first person your eyes focus on is Gabriel. One of his shot guns is laying on the floor next one of the guards. His free hand is wrapped around a guy’s throat, who he currently has pinned against a wall. He knees him in the groin and the man lets out a squeal of pain. Gabe doesn’t shoot him, but the man falls limp before he drops him to the ground. Gabe goes to turn around but one of the other guards is on him, grabbing his arms. He quickly disengages the guard, brings him into a headlock, before grabbing the man’s flailing arms and pulling back. A loud crack fills the room and the man scream in pain before he goes limp in Gabriel’s grasp. He gets dropped at his feet and Gabe kicks him out of the way, adding insult to injury. You suspect Gabe pulled his arm out of socket and potentially breaking the rotator cuff.  

A swift dash of motion across the room catches your attention. You notice Genji dashing and double jumping through the room. He’s distracting the guards while Jesse takes them out one at a time. You can faintly hear Jesse’s peacekeeper taking shot after shot along with the plink, plink, plink of Genji’s shurikens. The boys work together to take out one guard at a time as Gabe takes out another by himself. Quickly all the people who were in the room have fallen to the ground. All that is left is you and your Blackwatch boys. 

You lay there on the ground, too exhausted to do anything as you watch Gabriel’s form walk towards where you rest. He crouches down and brushes some of the hair from your face, looking at you with sorrow across his features before he scoops you up and brings you close to him. The room is spinning as your vision begins to turn black and white. He carries you out of the room, you whisper, “I’m so sorry Gabriel.”

“Sorry for what?” is the last thing you hear as everything fades to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'd like to thank my lovely beta reader, RavenImpulse for editing this mess. She is truly the best! Thanks guys for all the lovely comments and kudos and of course for being so patient while I write this! You guys are the reason I keep updating and you have no idea how much it means to me when I see a new kudos or comment! Love you guys! ♥♥♥


	9. Behind The Darkness There's A Sea Of Neon Lights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Demial for the help! ♥

There’s a faint beeping sound somewhere in the distance. You can’t quite figure out what’s causing it or exactly where you are at the moment. As you begin to become more conscious your whole body feels as if you’ve been run over by a train, and then maybe backed up over and ran over again. Slowly, you open your eyes and you see you’re in a white room that you have no recollection of. The beeping is coming from a machine to your side. You go to turn your head but let out a groan as pain shoots through your neck down your spine. This time you turn slowly and see it’s an iv beeping, indicating that your medication is low. Beside the machine is Gabe with his head pressed against his folded arms, resting on the bed beside you. He looks so peaceful resting there, but what is he doing here?

Suddenly, flashes of the last time you woke up in a strange place come flooding back. You remember the room was very dark, and you were surrounded by men. One who beat and tortured you for hours. You let out a gasp as it all comes back to you and Gabe! Oh, Gabriel was the one who rescued you. Your heart swells when you realized what he did, but it quickly grows to dread once you realize the huge mistake you’ve made.

You feel a squeeze on your right hand, you hadn’t realized that Gabe was holding it. He lifts his head and gives your hand another squeeze while giving you a soft smile. “You’re awake.”

You go to reply, but it goes out all strangled and your throat feels scratchy. Gabe quickly releases your hand and goes to the sink in your room to get you a cup of water. You quickly drink the whole thing, enjoying the feeling of the cool water running down your parched throat.

A tall, blonde woman walks into the room, and it takes your eyes a moment to focus. As she steps closer you recognize her as Angela. “Gabriel what do you think you are doing?”

“I was just giving her some water.”

Angela gives him a gentle glare. “I’ve got my eye on you. You’re part of the reason she’s in here.”

“She can handle herself well enough Angela.”

You can feel the tension rise between them. Before it can escalate you speak up. “Can you two stop talking like I’m not in the room?”

“Sorry,” you hear Angela mumble. “She’s my friend Gabriel, and I don’t like seeing her in this condition.”

“You’re not her only friend. I care about her too, and she’s my employee. It’s my duty to keep her safe.”

“Guys, cut it out.”

Gabe is the one to apologize this time.

Angela speaks up and turns to face you, “you have multiple injuries, including two stab wounds, fractured nose and eye socket, a collapsed lung, sprained wrist and not to mention the bruises covering your body. You’re lucky that Gabe got to you when he did since you lost a significant amount of blood.”

You turn your head to look at him. “Thank you.”

The doctor walks towards your charts and checks everything over. “On the bright side your vitals are strong, and you should be released in a couple weeks.”

“This isn’t a formal debriefing, but what did they say to you while you were there?”

You heart races, you don’t know what to say without revealing anything and getting everyone killed.

“Because only the Blackwatch offices’ were ransacked. Only you were taken, and the guys we managed to capture either killed themselves before they answered our questions or haven’t said anything in weeks, despite being lock in some uncomfortable living situations. We have no idea who attacked us or what exactly they were after. My only thought is that whatever they want, it’s something you’re working on and its Blackwatch specific.”

“I don’t know what to say. It’s all a blur right now.”

“That’s fine. We can talk about it when you’re not as banged up.”  

Angela finishes her check up and leaves the room, and it’s silent for between you and Gabe for several moments. The air is tense as you don’t know what to say, and it seems like he doesn’t either. Your heart monitor begins to speed up as you feel anxious, and it starts beeping, getting both of your attention. You both look at it before looking at each other and laughing.

“Sorry,” you giggle, “it seems that the heart monitor has revealed that you make me a little nervous.”

Gabriel walks back to the chair beside your bed and sits down, taking your smaller hand into his, being careful of the iv that enters your arm. He smiles at you before speaking up, “you make me nervous too.”

You smile back at him as the room turns silent again. You sit there, holding hands for several minutes in silence, but this time it’s not awkward. Your heart fluttering from the intimacy of the moment.

You zone out, enjoying the peaceful moment before Gabe catches your attention back to the present by shifting in his chair. He speaks, but his voice is low and is almost wavering, “I almost lost you.”

Your heart drops into you stomach as his words. You’ve caused him pain, and it hurts you more to know that you’re going to have to cause him more.

“We almost didn’t make it in time. I should have never left you alone.”

“You did the best you could at the time. Besides, you found me and saved my life from whatever else that creep was going to do.”

“It’s not enough. I should have stayed by your side.” He looks genuinely angry with himself.  

“Gabriel, please don’t beat yourself up over this. None of this is your fault.”

“I could have lost you.”

You grab his hand that’s holding yours and pull it close to your chest. “But you didn’t and the important thing is that I’m here and you rescued me. I’ll never be able to thank you enough.” You smile sheepishly at him before you let out a yawn.

“I should let you get back to resting.” He pulls his hand free from yours as he stands up and begins walking towards the door.”

“Wait!”

He turns back to face you.

“I want you to train me.”

“What?”

“I want you to train me the way you train your boys.”

“Why?” He walks back towards the bed, towering over you.

“I never want to be as defenceless again.”

“I’ll think about it.” 

“No Gabe. I want the full Blackwatch training regime. I want to be able to go out on the field with the teams in my division and keep an eye on them. While also making sure I’m not a liability.”

“You’re just a lawyer. The head of my Eastern Europe division. You don’t need to know how to fight and kill enemies or how to torture people into giving you information.”

“But I’ve been going in the field more and more. You can’t be everywhere. We’ve gotten too big.”

“The work that we do isn’t very pretty. It’s not nice, and it sure as hell isn’t clean.”

“But-”

“Reading about it in the files is one thing. But actually doing it is another. I don’t want to expose you to the weight of the dark reality of all we do. You never forget the people you kill, and the fact that you’re the reason they’re not living anymore. Or the sounds of people’s screams as you cause them suffering. It never goes away. I don’t want you to have to live with that, of being the person responsible for their suffering. It’s a heavy weight to bear.”

“Gabe, they’re going to come back and get what they want. Nothing is going to stop them, and I need to be prepared.”

“Is this what you really want?”

“Yes,” your voice is almost at a begging level.

He stares at you for a moment, clearly conflicted on what to do. “Fine,” he sighs before leaning down and giving your forehead a kiss. “Get some rest Cariño because you’re going to need it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait but my summer ended up being way busier than expect! Hope you all enjoy! ♥


	10. Better Stay Clever If You Wanna Survive

It has been several weeks since you were stuck in Overwatch’s infirmary. On top of several more weeks at home resting before Angela cleared you for training.  That was a months ago and you’ve been training twice a day, six days a week since. Once in the morning with the rest of the Blackwatch crew, during their normal routine. Then again in the evenings with just Gabe. If Gabe isn’t available, he gets either Jesse or Genji to train you.

The twice a day training was killing you. You’re already sore from this morning’s session but here you are, throwing punches at Gabe as he blocks them.

 “Again.”

You throw another and another but he blocks both of those.

“Again,” he tells you but a little more demanding than the last.

_Punch. Block. Punch. Block._

“Again. I know you can do better than this.”

You groan at him in frustration and pause for a moment hoping to catch your breath.

“How do you expect to qualify for field duty if you can’t get one punch in?”

You glare at him. “Now you’re just being rude.”

“I’m being serious. We’ve been doing this for months now. You’ve had lots of improvement but you’re not ready. Especially since you can’t get one punch against me today.”

You’re frustrated, tired and sore. Deep down you know that he’s right, but you’re not goingto let him know that. Besides, Gabe isn’t going to let you go back to your apartment until you get him at least once. You stand for a moment to catch your breath. You smile at him briefly. “Okay Gabriel. Come at me and teach me how it’s done.”

He raises his eyebrows in suspicion but shrugs it off. “Alright.”

You place yourself in the defensive position he taught you and wait for him to make his move. When he goes to throw a simple punch at you, you grab his hand and spin yourself around him so you’re now facing his back before you kick him in the back of his right knee, causing him to fall to the ground. You chuckle as he rolls over to lay on his back and grin at you.

“I see you’re better at defense than I thought.”

“Don’t underestimate me.” You extend your hand to help him get up. He accepts but instead of standing up, he pulls you down on top of him.

_Oof_

You feel his hands wrap around your waist before he flips your position so you’re now under him. Well that’s not fair! He’s a lot bigger than you.

“All right mister. Two can play this game.” You start wiggling underneath him, trying to escape like last time but he quickly pins your hands above your head.

“You won’t get away with that twice.”

“Fine.” You relax your body and think of another way to get out.

After a few moments Gabe speaks up. “Recall what I taught you. Use the limbs you have free.”

You smile up at him, wishing you could stay under him like this but for a very different circumstance. You swing your legs up and wrap your ankles around his neck. Trying to flip him back over proves to be pointless, he’s too heavy for you. In a following second, you turn your head and lick him.

It causes him to immediately let you go. “Oh God! Did you just lick me?”

You take this opportunity of him being distracted to overthrow him and switch your positions so you’re the one straddling him. You giggle at the look of shock on his face. “I needed to distract you somehow and it was either that or take of my shirt,” you joke.

“Well next time, I’d prefer if you took your top off. That was a dirty move, especially coming from you. I’d expect something like that from Jesse or Genji.”

“Where do you think I learned it from?” you tease.

“Touché.”

You grin down at him, placing your hands in the middle of his chest. “So, does that mean I win?”

“Yes. I’ll give it to you this time.”

“Yay!” You feel slightly proud of yourself for being able to out maneuver Gabe with a cheeky trick.

Gabe clears his throat and it catches your attention. “Good practice. I’ll see you in the morning.”

You roll over to get off of him and notice his eyes look a little darker than usual. Once you stand up, you offer your hand to him, and help him up.

“So, I think I’m finally ready for field duty. What do you think?”

“No.”

“What do you mean? We’ve been at it for months now and I just kicked your ass.”

“You’re not ready.”

“Why not?”

“Because you could get hurt.”

“But you trained me! And Jesse and Genji. Why can’t you just give me field clearance already?”

“I said no. End of story.”

“But-”

“No buts. I’m the Commander and I told you no. That’s an order.” Gabe turns around to walk away.

The joking silly mood between you two has turned sour and you’re mad now. “What are you so afraid of?!”

“What am I so afraid of? We lose agents in the field all the time. Everyday our agents risk their lives to make the world a better place. I constantly have memos on my desk of an agent who has been killed in active duty. Do you understand how hard it is to go to someone’s wife, husband, mother, father, children and tell them that their loved one is never coming home. That they’re never going to hear their laugh or see them smile again. I always put those memos on the bottom of the to do list for that day. Because until I or Jack or some other Overwatch official shows up on their door, their baby or lover is still alive.” He walks towards you, making it so you’re toe to toe. “I almost lost you once and I don’t know what I would have done without you.” His arms wrap around you in an embrace. The hug is soft and gentle and not at all what you would have expected from him. You stand there for a moment, hugging him back before he pulls away. Your bodies still touching, his arms still around your waist as yours rest on his biceps. “So please just give me some time to make sure you’ll be able to handle yourself and for me to get used to the idea. Because I can’t lose you.”

Gabe’s little speech quickly dispels all of your frustration and anger from the previous moments. You, more than anyone, understand how hard is to lose someone you love. Besides, you don’t know what you’d do if you lost Gabe either. You’re pulled out of your memory because of the feeling of his hand slowly traveling up your back before he rests it on your cheek. His thumb gently rubs your cheekbone before he slowly leans down. You close your eyes in anticipation, hoping for no interruptions this time.

His lips are soft and warm against yours. The kiss is starts off gentle. Almost like everything either of you can’t say to each other is being said in the kiss. All the unsaid feelings, the stolen glances, the whimpers of desire placed into this kiss. A moment passes before it quickly turns passionate as he continues to hold our face against his. Slowly, you feel his hands gently travel down your body, not breaking from you for an instant. No even for air.

And for a moment, everything is perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've taken so long! Promise I'm back! ♥


	11. Are You Ready For The Perfect Storm?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my lovely beta reader, Raven-Impulse, as always ♥

The work at your desk keeps piling up and no matter how late you stay or early you come in, there always seems to be more. You start the day by throwing yourself into your work, trying not to think about last night. So what if you made out with Gabe? Who happens to be your boss and immediate supervisor. In the middle of the training area. Where anyone could have seen. It doesn’t have to mean anything. A part of you really wants it to mean something but on the other hand you don’t want it to be anything. The threats of Director Petras and the assholes who captured you are constantly ringing in your ears every time you think of Gabe.

You’re stuck in this loop of really liking Gabriel but not wanting to hurt him. But then again, you’re being forced to be with him so he doesn’t get killed. Ugh! Your job, your real job is becoming much more complicated than anticipated. You thought you were working for the good guys, doing the right thing. The two organization are turning out to be opposites of each other.

When you learned that Overwatch, the world’s protector, had a secret black-ops organization you were angry. How could they do this? Betray the world’s trust like that. What would happen if anyone found out? So, you signed on to help take them down, no matter the cost. Blackwatch, despite all its secrecy and fails, turned out to be the good guys. The situation you were told wasn’t as black and white as it seemed and the ends never justify the means.  

Quickly looking at the clock on your computer, you read that it is five after twelve. Great, time to take a quick lunch and get back to work.  You’re gathering your purse when you’re interrupted by a knock on the door to your office. Looking up, you see Gabriel standing there, leaning against the door frame with his arms across his chest while giving you a devilish smile.

Immediately after seeing him, memories of last night flood your brain. The feeling of his hands around your waist and in your hair, the way he smells and the feeling of his lips against yours. You feel your cheeks flush and you mentally scold yourself for acting like a schoolgirl.

“Hi!” You smile back at him.

“Hello.”

“Is there anything you need?”

“Just a little question.”

“Oh?”

“Do you have any plans for lunch?”

“No. I was just on my way out to quickly grab something before coming back.”

“Great. Come have lunch with me?”

“Like right now?”

“Yeah, like a lunch date.”

“Oh.”

You see his face fall slightly. “Unless you rather not.”

“Oh, no! I just wasn’t expecting you to ask me out on a date.”

“Well, I figured after last night I should at least ask you out properly.” He unfolds his arms and takes a few steps inside your office. “Unless you would rather stay here and makeout again.” He gives you a cheeky smile.

“I’ll take you up on that lunch date. I’m starving!” You smile up at him as he closes the distance between you two. Grabbing your hand, he entwins his fingers with yours before giving you a quick kiss on the cheek. “Where do you have in mind?’

“Have you been to the Greek restaurant downtown?”

“I haven’t but I do love Greek food.”

“They have the best Greek potatoes and tzatziki I’ve ever tastes. And yes, that includes the times I’ve spent in Greece.”

You chuckle at him and let go of his hand before walking out of your office. He looks like he’s about to say something about it but you interrupt him. “I don’t know the United Nations’ and Overwatch’s policy on its employees dating. Especially when one is the boss of the other. Besides, we don’t want any of your staff to think you have a favourite now,” you tease.

“As long as we keep it professional we’ll be fine.”

“Coming from the man who wanted to makeout in my office two seconds ago.”

“Offer still stands. We can even do it in my office if you prefer.” He gives you a wink.

“Gabe,” you playfully push him away, unaware that your secretary, Jordyn, had come back to her desk.

“We all know Commander Reyes has a favourite. And it’s not Jesse anymore,” she jokes.

“It’s true. Do you know the amount of times the boys have given me flack for not asking you out already? It is uncountable, especially coming from McCree.” Gabe uses a voice that’s imitating Jesse. “She sure is pretty boss.” He coughs and his voice goes back to normal. “Every time you would walk by and be out of earshot. Especially after we started giving you Blackwatch training. There are more inappropriate comments about my intentions towards you and if I were a nicer man, I wouldn’t have ridded his ass so hard about it. Constant harassment for months,” he chuckles at the memories. “I’m pretty sure Moira made a comment or two.”

“So, what took you so long?” you tease.

“I wanted to make sure whatever this is,” he gestures between the two of you, “Whatever is between us was real. I wasn’t going to mess up an excellent working relationship just for lustful feelings.”

“You think we have a great working relationship?”

“Of course, I do. I’m not being biased here but you’re my best operations manager. You’re thoughtful, resourceful, intelligent and expertly knowledgeable about the areas. Couldn’t ask for better.”

Your heart swells at his compliment and you have the overwhelming urge to kiss him in the middle of the hallway.

Gabe continues his train of thought, “and then I thought I lost you. I swore if I got you back safe and sound, I’d do it then. But you were severely injured and took a while to recover. The last thing you needed was your creepy old man boss hitting on you.”

“You’re not creepy and there’s not that much of an age difference between us.”

“Enough to give me pause. So, I waited longer to make a move and here I am explaining all this to you in front of you secretary.” He puts one hand behind his head, looking a little bashful.

You close the distance between you two and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re a wonderful man Gabriel. Nothing Jordyn, nor I don’t already know.”

“It’s true,” she pipes up from previously being silent.

He clears his throat, clearly feeling a little self-conscious. “Let’s go to lunch now.”

\------

The restaurant wasn’t too far of a drive from the Overwatch headquarters. You rode in Gabe’s SUV since moving to Switzerland, you haven’t actually bought a car yet. You two made small talk, never having a lull in conversation. Before you know it, your meal is in front of you.

As you take a bite of one of the Greek potatoes Gabe highly recommended you try, he asks you, “How’s work going?”

You chuckle at his question. “You know exactly how work is. Too many things need our attention, but not enough resources. The agonizing struggle of deciding between bad, very bad, and what I like to call if we get to this at the wrong time, death.” You raise your eyebrows for dramatic effect and it causes a smile to appear across Gabe’s face. “Oh! Not to forget the paperwork. If I knew there was going to be this much paperwork, briefs, and memo writing, I would have stayed in law,” you joke. Not to forget Director Petras’ threats and his follow up constantly looming over your head. You haven’t been able to influence Gabe as much as they want. Now you’re terrified they’re going to do something drastic to get what they want.

Your mind begins to spin but you’re brought back to the moment when Gabe speaks up. “Sounds like you could use a vacation.”

You shake your head at his proposal. “Nahh, besides I’ve only been here for seven months. I don’t get an vacation until I hit the one-year mark. Plus, I had that month off a little while ago. So really, it’s only been six months.

Gabe gives you his you’ve got to be kidding me face. “Your month off doesn’t count. You were healing from serious injuries. Besides, who do you think approves your vacation?”

“Oh Gabe! I don’t want you to abuse your authority. I’ll be fine.”

“I wouldn’t be. No one follows the one-year rule. We normally start after your six-month probation period is over."

“You know I was just teasing you about having the month off, right?”

“I know. You’re a little shit sometimes, but look at all of Blackwatch. Nothing but little shits everywhere,” he chuckles at his own joke.

You beam at him with a large grin. “How has work been for you? You’ve been pretty mobile lately.”

“It’s been the usual, but the reason I was asking is because I was thinking we could spend a weekend in Barcelona.”

“You want to go away to Spain, with me?”

He grabs your hand that is resting on the table, gently squeezing your hand. “Yes. We both could use a couple days off. You’ve been working non-stop lately. You’re up early every morning, and sometimes leaving the office later than me. Think about it. A nice beach, delicious food and all the wine you can drink.”

You do like the thought of laying on a nice, warm beach, a drink in your hand with Gabe by your side. “Alright,” you smile at him and squeeze his hand back. “You’ve convinced me.”

“Great! How does Friday sound?”

“Sounds good!” You let go of his hand and grab your glass to take a sip of water. “Wait! We have that mission in Russia that starts on Thursday.”

“Which one?”

“You know? The one where our nuclear sensor went off near that Arms Factory. Umm… Volkskya Industries! So, we have the mission to go investigate why they went off and infiltrate the area. Maybe steal some of their plans. The usual Blackwatch stuff.”

“Oh right. How about next Friday then?”

“I can’t remember any missions that I’m scheduled for. Sounds like a plan!”

You both go back to eating your meal. You’re lost in your own thought when you remember a rather important detail. “Gabe?” You raise your eyebrows at him.

“Yes darling?”

“You’re scheduled to be on that mission.”

He gives you a nonchalant shrug. “Details,” he seems very amused by your demeanour.

“Well you know you wouldn’t have to go if you cleared me to leave ops.”

The joking demeanour on his face quickly falls. “We’ve been over this. Just give me some time.”

You place your fork to the side of your plate and are the one to grab his hand this time. You wrap your hands around his much larger one, giving a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “Just hear me out on this one. I think we can come to a compromise.”

He does not look impressed. He presses his lips together tightly before speaking up, “I’m listening.”

“What if we both go on the mission and more than me just sitting in ops. That way I can get out into the field, out of operations. This way you can supervise me and make sure nothing happens. It will give you some peace of mind.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Gabe, you know it’s the best option.”

He glares at you slightly and then proceeds to ignore you for a moment to continue eating his food.

“Please Gabe. I won’t be out of your sight.”

He lets out a heavy sigh. “I know you’re right. It’s just…” His voice waivers slightly. “I just got you. I’d hate to lose you.”

You squeeze his hand in reassurance. “You’re not going to. I was trained by the best. Plus, I have you watching my back the whole time. Gabe, I have friends and contacts in the area. It would be good if I could make sure the area is alright.”

His thumb begins lightly stroking your hand. “Fine. Once we get back to the office, I’ll fill out the paperwork to clear you.”

You feel a wave of happiness course through your body. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. You’ve earned this.” He gets up a little and leans over the table, pressing a quick kiss to your lips. Butterflies bubble in your stomach from the intimate contact.

You spent the next few days training hardcore with Gabe in the mornings

Stepping off the jet, the Russian air is cold against your face and it momentarily takes your breath away. It’s been a long time since you’ve been here and you can’t shake the feeling that something is destined to go wrong. You push the feeling to the back of your mind before jogging to catch up to Gabriel.

“Hey, remember your part?”

You give him a jesting glare. “Very funny Gabriel.”

He chuckles. “I know, you’re the one who planned out the mission. Just teasing.”

“Sorry, I’m just feeling a little nervous.”

He wraps an arm around you and gives you a gentle squeeze. “To be expected but you’ve thoroughly planned this mission. We sneak it, check out the factory, steal some data and sneak out. Easy peasy.”

You stifle a laugh. “Did you just say easy peasy?” 

“What?” He gives you a fake, hurt look. “It’s okay when McCree does it but not me?”

“Just keep to the mission Gabe.”

“You’ve got it boss” he teases before he runs up ahead, talking to a couple of the agents in front of you.

\-------

You were able to sneak into the arms factory fairly easily. Maneuvering around the guards and quietly taking out the ones who had the potential the notice you. Currently you and Gabe are standing in the server room, waiting for the hard drive to finish backing up. 

“Wait here, I’m going to go check the hallway to make sure we don’t have any unsuspected visitors.”

You nod your head in agreement, watching Gabe step out of the server room.  The download percentage of Volkskya Industries’ entire files slowly increases onto the hard drive.

There’s a distant explosion somewhere in the background which immediately causes you to stop what you’re doing and lookout the nearest window. You immediately notice that a part of the factory is on fire, and hear the screams of some of the workers.

Gabe runs back into the room, abandoning his patrol. “Come on! We need to get out of here!”

“But the data hasn’t finished downloading to the hard drive yet!”

“Fuck the hard drive. The nuclear storage facility just caught on fire. We need to get everyone out now.

“Shit!” you quickly rip the drive out of the socket and shove it into your bra as you run out the door, following Gabe. The two of you head towards the planned extraction point when a call of distress comes through your coms.

Gabriel immediately begins running faster. You sharply turn a corner and immediately your heart drops. Standing in front of you is the Reconditioner, with a sick smile on his face.

Hot rage courses through your body. You want nothing more in that moment than to strangle that wicked smile off his face. But in the back of your mind you hear Gabe’s voice reminded you that emotions get you killed in the field.

Gabriel and the Reconditioner, Marcus Herzlinger quickly begin fighting. They’re moving quickly, throwing blows at each other and blocking the punch coming towards them. In a blink, Gabe dives towards Marcus and slams him into the fire extinguisher that is attached to the wall, knocking him on his ass.

Gabe stands up as Marcus spits blood out of his mouth before smiling up at you two, breathing heavily. “You killed a lot of my guys the last time we met.”

“I should have killed you,” Gabe practically spits.

“It takes more than a few shots to chest and a torn rotator cuff to kill me. Besides, if I die, there’s plenty more people ready to take my place to challenge Overwatch and Blackwatch.”

“Looks like I’m just going to have to try harder then.”

Gabe goes to kick him in the chest but the Reconditioner grabs his foot and pulls Gabriel off balance. He’s lying prone on the floor and Marcus jumps on top of him, quickly throwing punches into Gabe’s face. The fighting continues and somehow, they’re both back on their feet, desperately trying to beat the other.  There’s nothing you can do with your weapons without accidently hurting Gabe so you do the only thing that seems logical at the moment.

Taking a running start, you tackle the Reconditioner, causing all three of you to fly through the glass wall overlooking the factory floor. You didn’t think you’d push them that far but it’s too late to try and change your course. You attempt to position yourself on top of Marcus so he’ll take the brunt of your landing but he throws you off before you land and you skid along your side.

Pain shoots through your body and you feel the cuts along your arm as you slide across the broken glass. Ugh, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. You can’t move anything for a moment as your body adjusts to the impact of the hard factory floor.

You finally manage to move your head and you see the Reconditioner standing over Gabe, who is currently unmoving. Adrenaline courses throughout your body as you sit up and scream, “NO!” But it’s too late, you watch Marcus shoot two shots into Gabe’s stomach and he immediately retches in pain.

Standing up, you scramble to grab your gun that had fallen a few feet from where you initially landed.

“Say goodbye Commander Reyes. Your time of being useful to us is over,” Marcus taunts as he aims the gun at Gabriel’s head.

Your hands are shaking but you manage to fire two shots into the back of the guy’s leg causing him the immediately drop his gun and collapse to the floor. “Oh, you little bitch! You’re really going to get it when I can stand up,” he growls at you, while desperately putting pressure on his leg.

“Not today you ass cactus!” You yell at him as you run over and kick him out of the way. Your priority is Gabe and you can deal with Marcus later.

Gabe is laying on the ground with his hands over his stomach, covered in blood. You kneel down beside him, putting pressure on his wounds. Oh God, there’s so much blood coming out. Gabe is going into shock and you notice him fading in out and out of consciousness. “Gabe! Gabriel! Honey! Stay with me! Come on! You’ve got to stay awake!” Your voice is on the edge of cracking as you feel tears begin to well up in your eyes.

You hear the sound of fabric ripping and you turn your head to see Marcus tearing off a part of his sleeve to tie around his leg where you shot him. You can tell he’s struggling to stand up but he glares at you with a predatory gaze. “Look at you! You’ve gone softer than I thought”

“Shut up! I have not!”

“You’re pinning over a man who will never love you once he finds out what you’ve been doing this whole time.”

“It doesn’t matter because I’ll make sure he never finds out.”

“I’ve read your file. You practically begged the Council and the High Table to let you be the one to do this mission.”

“Do you ever shut up?”

Marcus just laughs at you as he stands up and begins stumbling towards you. “Doesn’t really matter, you and the Commander aren’t going to make it out of here alive.” He pulls a gun from behind his back and aims it at you.

In a moment of fear, your Blackwatch training takes over. You momentarily release the pressure off Gabe and grab the gun beside you. Your hand has never been steadier and before you can think twice, you shoot the rest of the clip into Marcus’ head. Blood and brain matter splatters all over you and the floor. His dead body hits the ground with a satisfying thump.

You immediately put pressure back on Gabe’s stomach and call your team, at least whoever is still alive.

“Commander down. I repeat Commander down, in the main factory.” You wait as the silence is deafening.

* * *

Also if anyone wants, I've made a spotify playlist that fits the mood of the fic or songs that I use when writing [right here](https://open.spotify.com/user/oneida.mackayaldridge/playlist/3TQqpMnsYAWQgQml73mFAD?si=tLzW-cAjSAmCCAJDdFDjLQ)!

 


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